Redemption
by Aweshumnesh
Summary: All of Kanto is under Team Rocket's shadow. A group of rebels put everything on the line to fight back. As they do, many mysteries begin to unravel. A story of war, treachery and the struggle to be free.
1. Chapter 1

A few things before the start:

For a few years now I have been trying to construct a Pokémon story that would be set in a more violent, mature and altogether more interesting world than anything the Anime has explored. Then again I didn't want to make it violent just for the sake of violence. This story is fruit of all those thoughts. I always felt that the multitude of characters on offer could be developed into more than just the one dimensional things they are in the anime. Here goes nothing.

I have to thank my incredibly supportive girlfriend The BunneyHoe (Lady Aweshumnesh on FF) . If it wasn't for her endless support and motivation, I would have a hard time getting out of bed most mornings. She's also my only Beta Reader and my number one fan. So here's to her.

And I'm done fangirling. Here goes.

**Chapter 1: The Rocket Administered Zone of Kanto**

Everything around him was on fire. The glass ceilings of the gym, made to resemble a large greenhouse, had been shattered and pieces of glass and debris lay scattered across the floor. He had been caught up in the initial blast too. He could feel blood dripping from his forehead. He heard her voice and chased after it. But his vision blurred and his eyes closed in.

His eyes opened again. He looked around, trying to locate where she was. He could hear her voice. He tried calling out her name but the sound of clashing Pokémon muffled his voice. He hoped against hope that she was alright. His vision blurred again.

His eyes opened. He was running. All around him bodies lay scattered on the floor. He probably should have stopped to check up on them. If some of them were still alive, maybe he could save them. But in his mind all he could think of was her and if she was alright. He knew he was being selfish but he didn't feel like he was in control of his actions.

There she was. In the centre with her four Vileplume surrounding her. It was clear that she was exhausted and vastly outnumbered. Hordes of fire Pokémon surrounded her. He believed in her abilities but at this rate there was very little hope. Monotype teams had remained the Achilles heel for Gym Leaders. He managed to make eye contact with her. He didn't need to say anything to communicate what he was feeling. She only shook her head and looked away to focus on the battle again.

And then he saw it. A viscous cyclone of fire engulfed the very place where she was standing. And his vision blacked out.

Cries echoed in his head; Vileplume screaming, a Houndoom barking in a mad rage, fire crackling, people crying out in fear. His eyes reopened again. The image of the last time he had seen her. Standing in her old confident pose, refusing to be intimidated even when the odds were firmly stacked against her, fulfilling her duty to her last breath. The image froze, time froze, everything froze.

He woke up gasping for air. He felt his t-shirt had been soaked. Reaching for a glass of water from the bed side table, he tried to steady his mind. It was that dream; The same recurring dream that had been chasing him for years. But he liked it. In a way it was the only way to connect himself to her now. He reached for his motor cycle helmet and put it on. It was partially used for secrecy but mostly to hide the horrific burn scars on his face.

Adam the Avenger, leader of the Kanto's most feared Anti Rocket Faction, The Vengeance, walked over to the door. He needed relief; he hadn't gotten a full night's sleep in weeks. There was only thing one to do, spill Rocket blood.

SC

The underpass between Cerulean and Vermilion was heavily guarded. The granite and other minerals mined from Cerulean Cave passed through this route to reach Vermilion's port, from where on it would be shipped to Johto and other countries. This was important business for the now five year old Rocket administrated government of Kanto. Lieutenant Surge, one time gym leader of Vermillion turned Rocket and now Chief of Zone B, sent some of his personal guards to patrol the route. Although nothing had happened in a while, rebel factions had often targeted the route as a means to hit one of the government's principal sources of income so everybody remained on their toes.

Leaf Mason carefully monitored the systematic transport of cargo along the underpass. It had been four years since she had decided to ignore the annoying voice inside her head and join Team Rocket. When they first took over, Geovanni was careful to offer most trainers a choice. And when it came to Pokémon League veterans like herself, the offer was even more lucrative. She had grown up with the ideals that most Pokémon loving kids do. But at that moment, she learnt that it wasn't too hard to give up one's morals. She debated the decision in her mind over a long time before finally deciding nothing was worth putting one's one life in danger. With the decision she was taking, she would be safe, her Pokémon would not end up being confiscated and she would even make a little profit. It didn't seem bad at all. May be she should have joined the rebellion but then again, she thought, one trainer wouldn't have made such a massive difference. May be she was better off this way.

Over the course of five years, the people of Kanto had come to accept their fate in some ways. For a long time, Team Rocket had remained the only noted criminals in the country. But they hardly ever managed anything significant. Trainers fought them off easily enough and apart from running a few casinos and such, they didn't do anything that people were overly concerned about.

But then things changed. Rumours circulated about a foreign scientist helping them out and Team Rocket suddenly burst on to the scene with viciously over powered Pokémon. These Pokémon did not seem normal or even alive for that matter. Their eyes looked bloodshot and the only thing the Pokémon seemed to care about was absolutely obliterating their opponents. They attacked one city after another in a matter of weeks. The problem was compounded when it turned out gym leaders of various cities had been conspirators of Team Rocket for a long time. The people that masses looked up to defend them ended up being traitors.

Viridian City was the worst hit. The citizens were dumbfounded to find out that their own gym leader was a criminal mastermind and had been using the gym as a cover for Team Rocket's activities. The city was the fastest to fall since it took less than a morning for Giovanni and his underlings to exterminate the trainers inside the city. But before news of Viridian's fall could spread across Kanto, several similar attacks broke out in Saffron, Fuchsia and most surprisingly, the Indigo Plateau. It turned out Sabrina, Koga and Karen were all Rocket conspirators. That day was the 31st of December and by sunrise on the 1st of January, all of Kanto had fallen.

The memories of those events seemed so distant to Leaf now that it shocked her. Even if she had joined Team Rocket, she did not enjoy or even remotely like the experience. But despite being called a traitor or a low life or countless other things, she continued to defend the choice in her mind. She couldn't even afford to end up like an unclassified.

_4 years earlier_

_Leaf was growing tired of this life of hiding. Ever since the Rocket take over, her life had been reduced to running from one location to another. She had been hearing about safe passages near the borders but she didn't want to risk running into the Border Guard. They were among the fiercest of Rocket Grunts and given the sort of Pokémon even average Rocket Grunts now had, she didn't like to imagine what kind the grunts at the border would have. She thought back to the Day of Beginning._

_She had been in an around the Celadon area on the day that Kanto fell, since then declared by Team Rocket as the Day of Beginning. She had seen the events of that day from a safe distance. The Game Corner cum Casino in the city had apparently been a Rocket base and grunts emerged in the hundreds from underground. What followed next was fairly peaceful. Most of the ordinary citizens didn't have the ability to retaliate and simply surrendered. But chaos ensued the moment the Gym fought back._

_Erika was always known as a very gentle girl. Despite being a skilled trainer, she didn't have the fool hardy attitude most trainers seemed to possess. Even then she was the Gym leader and the City was her's to protect. Leaf was thankful her Alakazam had been able to Teleport her to the outskirts just as the fighting started. She knew she should have stayed back and helped. Erika was an old friend and as a trainer recognized by the Pokémon League, she had a responsibility. But she had never been as brave as Ash or Gary and in that moment her heart sank as she found herself running away._

_She had heard later that Erika had died defending the city. And at that moment Leaf started to hate herself. And as she continued to run from city to city living like a fish out of water, her hatred for herself grew. But she was at a crossroads. She had heard of the Rebellion, an army started by Lance to fight back. Apparently Ash and Gary had both joined. But she didn't have the heart for it. She absolutely detested danger. On the other hand she had read the pamphlets Team Rocket were handing out. It was an open invitation for skilled trainers to join their ranks. In return they would be granted immunity to the Pokémon Confiscation Campaign, Team Rocket's fierce programme of separating Pokémon from their trainers._

_Many of Kanto's skilled trainers had died defending Kanto on the Day of the Beginning. But it seemed that Team Rocket did not want to risk having any new trainers grow within Kanto. They started the confiscation Campaign, that separated people into 2 groups: Classifieds and Unclassifieds. Classifieds were people who were allowed to carry Pokémon. They were almost always Rocket conspirators or delegations of foreign embassies. And then there were unclassifieds, people who were not allowed to carry Pokémon. Any trainer that refused to co-operate with Team Rocket was generally beaten senseless, if not killed, and had his Pokémon removed._

_Trying to be as undetectable as possible, Leaf moved through the woods before she neared a clearing. In front of her a small boy, probably someone who had only recently started his journey before the invasion, was surrounded by 2 Rocket Grunts that towered over him._

_"A Pidgey, huh?" one of the grunts sneered. "Let me see your ID"_

_The little boy didn't respond. He hugged the Pidgey with all his heart. It was pretty clear that he didn't have an ID._

_"Don't tell me you're an unclassified now. An unclassified carrying a Pokémon? That's a crime punishable by death!", the grunt stated as though he had said something incredibly funny._

_"Sneasal, teach our friend here a lesson", the first grunt ordered._

_And Leaf saw it again. It was one of the strange Pokémon Team Rocket had been using since the invasion. And for a brief second she pictured one of her Pokémon being taken and turned into one of those things._

_The Sneasal slashed at the boy, who had to let go of the Pokémon and clutched at his now bleeding hand . The Pidgey, sensing the danger, tried to fly away. But its young and frail wings were not faster than the Sneasal's ice beam and it froze both wings. The bird Pokémon crashed to the ground. One of the grunts walked over and picked up the Pokémon, carefully examining it._

_"Oi Lloyd, it's a weak one. I don't think they'll have much use for it", the Grunt who had examined Pidgey said._

_"Tell you what", Lloyd replied. "Since you're just a kid. We'll let you go. The punishment states death. Let's not be picky about who has to die"._

_Sneasal seemed to pick up what they were referring to. It jumped up and fixed its claw at the now defenceless Pidgey. The little boy realized what was going to happen and tried to run towards the Sneasal. He almost got there in time but the Ice type kicked his skull, sending the boy knocking backwards, before digging its claw into the Pidgey's stomach. Blood splattered in every direction, some of it landing on the boy's face. Leaf's eyes widened in horror. She felt like screaming but she did her best to stay quiet._

_Even in his pain, the little boy screamed at the top of his voice as he crawled over to the Pidgey's motionless body. The grunts lingered for a moment before walking away._

_From behind the bush, Leaf made her decision. She could not risk her and her Pokémon's safety. She would take up the offer_

Thanks to her record as a trainer, Leaf was immediately pushed into a highly ranked post. Even if they were a bunch of criminals, Team Rocket was very well organized and though Leaf sensed that the ordinary grunts didn't quite like her, they were bound to obey and maintain the chain of command. Leaf had come in hoping that others had decided to join like she had. That would help her feel less guilty. But to her disappointment, she found that she was probably the most prominent trainer to have taken the decision. Despite her disappointment she also felt slightly relieved. At least others had the courage to stand up for what they believed in, unlike her.

Being stationed to overlook the underpass made life easier for her. She wouldn't have to take part in any fights, making her a feel a bit less guilty about everything. Leaf closed her eyes and pushed her feet up on the table next to her. At least she and her Pokémon were alive and well.

Her faithful Alakazam was meditating in a corner of the room. Its face looked sad.

SC

In the shadow of the small alleyway, a young man patiently waited for the assigned time to arrive. His raven black hair was unkempt and his clothes were designed for camouflage. Like any curfew night, most of the street lights had gone out shortly after sunset and all the citizens were firmly indoors. The streets were lined with guards and their Pokémon, ferocious looking things that seemed to have had all the joy and compassion sucked out of them. The young man carefully went through the whole plan. He was nervous and scared like he was before any mission but he knew better than anyone that he didn't have a choice. It was his fight, it had to be fought and he had to be the one to fight it. There was no other way.

In exactly twenty minutes, his friend would show up. At least, he was supposed to show up. Nothing was for sure anymore. It was sort of a survival game. However, unlike those on TV, it was being played with real life and real dangers. His friend was an important ally. A spy within enemy ranks. The young man thought of the heights his friend went to to safeguard his identity while leaking information. James' job was job a dangerous one and one could be forgiven for not wanting to be in his boots. Before all this happened, if someone had told Ash that James would be an important ally, he would have laughed it all off. But things had changed.

Suddenly, an explosion rang the young man out of his reverie. The smell of smoke filled his nostrils and it took everything he had to keep himself from coughing and giving himself away. As the smoke cleared, he saw a Team Rocket member in front of him, accompanied by a Tyranitar that probably caused the explosion.

"The jig is up, Ash", the Rocket grunt's high pitched voice sent chills down his spine. He knew this voice. He had come across it many times before. But those were simpler days and back then she was a much lesser foe. She and her partner, James , had tried time and time again to capture Pikachu. But all those attempts were hardly effective and their team could be called a joke at best.

But then things changed. In a matter of years, Jessie and James went their separate ways. After The Day of Beginning, Jessie joined the main battalion and rose through the ranks. On the other hand, James saw the light and became a spy. James did his best to work as a double agent, leaking valuable information to the rebels. All this while his onetime team mate slowly established herself as one of Team Rocket's most lethal officers.

Ash had gotten into close calls many times before. He refused to fight alongside the other rebels. They hadn't lost nearly as enough as him. They wouldn't understand. He would usurp Team Rocket and he would do it alone. The only person he accepted help from was James and that too cause otherwise it was virtually impossible to find openings in Team Rocket's defenses. As she stood there before him, with Tyranitar ready to strike, he thought back to why he had sworn himself to this fight.

_5 years ago_

_It was ironic that Gary had to be the one to break the news to him. Their friendship had fallen by the wayside a long time ago, overrun by their fierce and somewhat childish rivalry. He had been fighting in Saffron when Kanto fell. He had no clue what was going on in Cerulean or Pewter or Pallet. Not before he found Gary coming towards him in the shelter created by Lance in the Dark Tunnel. It was where the few remaining trainers had gathered before forming the Rebellion. When Gary broke the news, Ash felt like throwing up. They had killed all of them. His mother, Brock and Misty. They had abducted Professor Oak. Team Rocket's operation had been bloodless in general. There wasn't much reason for ordinary people like his mother or Brock and Misty, who were not Gym Leaders at the time, to die. He knew the answer. It was because he had insisted on getting in Team Rocket's way so many times. This was a message they were sending to him. Gary asked him how he was feeling._

_How was he feeling? What a funny question. He felt like the most despicable human being alive. He felt like his insides had been churned out and set alight on a barbecue. He felt like a thousand Hitmonlee had kicked him in the gut. But above all, he felt determined. The call had been made and the course of action had been dictated by fate itself._

It was that determination that had brought him to this alleyway, standing in front of death yet again. But death wouldn't get him so easily. Because overlooking everything he did, was a silent vigilant. Sensing the danger, Mewtwo knew it had to intervene. In seconds, Ash and Mewtwo were far away.

xx

News of Ash's newest antics reached the de-facto headquarters of the Rebel forces. They had suffered a string of defeats in recent months and had been pushed into the deepest trenches of their hideout in the Seafoam Islands. Living there was hard and everyday was a battle against the treacherous climate. But it was their only option. Articuno had extended its hands of co-operation and acted as a barrier. Inside, the leaders of the Rebel movement slowly watched their morale wither away. They had trained to be Pokemon trainers and fine Pokemon trainers they had made, but leading a war was too much for most of them. Still they stuck at it because they knew they had to. There was nowhere they could go.

Lance had grown accustomed to Ash's efforts. They were stupid, barely thought-out and surely to get him killed one day or the other. Lance wasn't aware of who or what Ash had befriended along the way. He just hoped the boy survived. He had tried on several occasions to get Ash to join up with the rebels. But the boy chose to do things his own way. He had wanted Ash to be his deputy but in his absence, the other Pallet Town trainer, Gary filled in on that position.

Lance knew this division was in itself a victory for Team Rocket. Ash and Lance together would have been a force to be reckoned with. Alone, Ash was just a stupid kid driven madly by emotion, someone who was surely going to jump towards his end someday. He just hoped somehow the boy would come to his senses. Who knew what would happen.

Outside, the snowstorm gained intensity. It was going to be a long night. Lance tried hard to concentrate but a nagging headache stopped him from being able to focus on anything. It had been 5 years since Team Rocket had completed their conquest of Kanto. It was an exceptionally orchestrated plan , enhanced by the aid of a number of Gym Leaders who joined their cause. One after one, all the cities of Kanto fell to Team Rocket in a matter of hours. Almost any trainer that tried to put up a resistance either died or got himself locked up and his Pokémon confiscated. Trainers like Lance were faced with a moral dilemma. They could either flee to Johto or stay back and fight. For anyone with Pokémon, slipping through the borders to Johto would be fairly easy. And in the first few days, Rocket hadn't set up the border guards. They could then fly off to Hoenn or Kalos or where ever their hearts wished to go. But of course they couldn't. They had to fight even if they risked losing their lives.

Lance's position as the strongest trainer in Kanto had been jeopardized after two famous defeats to both Gary and then Ash in quick succession. In a matter of days, Gary had replaced him as Champion only to be replaced by Ash. What all this meant was that in the pantheon of Kanto's Trainers, Lance stood in the third position, behind the two boys from Pallet. Yet he knew that in the face of crisis, his role would be the one of leadership. He was, after all, older and more experienced. He did his best to gather as many likeminded individuals as possible. He had expected all the Gym Leaders to join his cause yet surprisingly Sabrina and Lt. Surge had other plans. They had gone over to the other side. In fact, they had gone over a long time ago, only keeping their identities as Rocket Agents hidden to make for a lethal surprise attack on their respective cities.

In the end, Lance only had a handful of allies with him when he formed the Kanto Rebel Forces. They were a band of freedom fighters, looking for some way to break the Rocket Stronghold over Kanto. They were vastly outnumbered and the only thing they had going for them was their collective skill when it came to Pokémon battling. But Rocket had that base covered too. It seemed like they used some sort of mechanically enhanced Pokémon to battle, ones that were stronger than those used by Lance and the others. Of course, the grunts were still ineffective Trainers so that offered a weak spot. But that wasn't enough of an advantage on its own and the Rebels suffered numerous defeats.

People like Agatha and Lorelei had spent much of their lives in the pursuit of becoming better trainers and they did a very good job in that regard. It was what they had dedicated their lives to, after all. The skills they acquired to fulfil their dreams were commendable but none of those skills held much weight in a war. A war was different from everyday battles. Even the fiercest of Pokémon League matches did not put any lives on the line and did not gamble with peoples' futures. The intelligent thing to do would be to run away. Even if they couldn't take on Rocket forces in any of the cities, breaking through a hole in the border wouldn't be beyond them. They could make it, may be. If they could make it to Johto, they were free. They could rebuild their lives and, above all, be alive.

Lance knew well enough that the morale of his forces had hit a record low. They hadn't had any considerable successes in all the time they had been in operation and the best they had ever managed were a few small operations in more remote areas like Pallet Town or in the Sevii Islands. Even then, they had _his_ help on both those missions and Lance knew well enough that if they were ever going to stand a chance against Team Rocket, they would need Ash. But Ash had more or less severed ties with them.

_Nearly 4 Years earlier_

_Ash frantically paced to up and down the corridor, sweating profusely. He had his hands in pockets and seemed to be muttering under his breath. He and Lance were in the top most floor of the Abandoned Mansion on Cinnabar Island. Team Rocket hadn't arrived on the island yet, which remained the last independent city in all of Kanto._

_Lance lay on his back on the carpet, exhausted from the morning's mission. He had tried to drive Rocket away from Pallet Town again. It was a recurring mission, since Pallet Town was isolated from the other cities, liberating it would give the Rebels some breathing space on the mainland. Most of these attacks were Ash's idea, since Lance would rather prefer stealth than just a head on attack. Fighting under Ash's planning had backfired every time so far and it was clear that the only thing they had brought them back in one piece each time was pure dumb luck._

_"We have to strike the Powerplant! That will really put them on the backfoot!", Ash suddenly shouted out._

_"Calm down, Ash. We can't even breach their defenses in Pallet. How can we even hope to get anywhere near Cerulean without being spotted?", Lance was almost surprised at how immature Ash was being._

_"Stealth! We can't move in numbers. Numbers draw attention. I'll go alone, then Gary or you will follow me a bit later. Only two of us"_

_"Just two of us against an entire army?", Lance answered angrily. This kid is crazy. He's going to get everyone killed !_

_"What other way is there?"_

_"We'll have to think it through. We can't just jump onto these things anymore. And honestly, you're ability to plan missions has lost credibility after these fiascos"_

_"Well fine then, guess I'll have to act alone from now on!"_

_"Alone? Are you crazy? Ash, I know you've beaten me but as an adult I can't just let you run off to face an entire army alone!"_

_"Oh Shut up, don't tell me what I have to do."_

_"Ash, as the leader of The Rebel forces, this is in an order. I forbid you from attacking on your own"_

_"Like a give a damn to your orders. You won't understand. None of you understand. All of you are here to play hero! Well you can keep playing your stupid games and act like you're getting something done. I'll do this my own way!"_

_"You're going to get yourself killed!"_

_"That would be better than sitting around on my ass all day"_

_"None of us are just sitting around"_

_"Yeah and all the good that's doing"_

_Within minutes, Ash had packed up a few belongings and left the island. A few hours later, Ash's Pidgeot arrived with a little note attached._

_"I will give you a free Kanto", it read._

XX

Perceiving a fully-fledged war as a personal quest for vengeance was a dangerous thing to do. Yet the decision wasn't a conscious one, it was a stage that had been prepared for him. Ash didn't hesitate for a minute, he grabbed onto the challenge with his usual determination. Just that this time, there was no youthful innocence about his goal. He was a man out for revenge.

But he soon found out it would be much easier said than done. He knew facing them alone was nearly impossible but he had nothing to do. He knew the Rebel forces were good but they were a bit too methodical. They kept waiting for an opening and he knew better than anyone that Team Rocket had prepared very, very well and there would never be an opening. They had to go in and force it open even if they lost their lives in the process.

Once again, he had come close to being killed. It was a relief that he had Mewtwo with him, someone that could teleport him out of tight situations. Having Mewtwo around considerably reduced the chances of fatal failure on missions though even the legendary sometime had trouble fighting off of some of Rocket's strange Pokémon.

Sitting there mending his wounds, it suddenly struck him. It was the perfect chance to attack the Powerplant again. The past attacks had been futile but now with Mewtwo on his side, there was sure to be a much higher chance of success. He was sure of it. He could almost feel it.

"Up for another mission tonight?" Ash asked the psychic type, almost bouncing with excitement.

"Very well", the legendary replied through telepathy. The Pokémon could do many things but it couldn't really plan. That was Ash's job and Mewtwo knew he shouldn't really have that job.

XX

The farthest Mewtwo's teleportation could take Ash was to the western boundaries of Cerulean City, given Mewtwo had never been to the actual Powerplant before. Even then, it was outside the reach of the Rocket troops patrolling Cerulean City, so Ash could was safe to make his way to the Powerplant.

Normally, one would use the ferry to move across the river to get there, but that route was heavily guarded for obvious reasons. During both of his past attempts, Ash had made the careless mistake of diving into the water. What he hadn't expected were diving units stationed in the water. With the lesson of those attempts in mind, Ash scaled the mountain range to west of the plant.

Jumping onto the roof from an adjacent boulder, Ash quickly scanned the area. It was unlikely that there would be Rockets on the roof. No matter how resilient the rebels were, going around the mountains was too much for even Dragon Master Lance. Ash jumped to the side of the building, landing on the fire escape. A number of windows were open, making for an easy entry. "You've let your guard down, Team Rocket", Ash said to himself as he made his way into the dark room.

After turning on his flash light, Ash saw the room was nothing more than a storage room. Shelves were lined with boxes and files." Nothing much going on there," he thought. He peeked into the hallway to find the lights off yet again. While that did seem fishy, Ash brushed it off as mere carelessness on Team Rocket's part. Anticipating attacks wasn't easy given how rarely the rebels ever conducted missions so they could be forgiven for thinking that there wouldn't be any fresh assaults on the powerplant.

Going down the hall, Ash noticed a group of Rocket grunts in the distance. Ash immediately slid into the shadows, thankful that he had seen them before they had seen him. He was no stealth specialist but he knew how to use the darkness to his advantage. The war had toughened his body up immensely and Ash managed to crawl, duck and occasionally summersault his way to the basement, taking advantage of the relative darkness.

The main generator was actually a series of generators linked up to each other. Ash realized it was show time and quickly pulled out two pokeballs. He didn't have the technical know-how to damage the generators silently, so he would have to apply force. That was bound to get attention but it was the only way to go. Ash took a deep breath, before releasing Lucario and Infernape from their Pokeballs.

As soon as the first attacks hit the generators, the explosions rang alarms across the whole plant. Rocket grunts raced to the basement, releasing Pokémon left, right and centre. Ash's Charizard and Mewtwo guarded the entrance and immediately locked into combat with the approaching Rocket forces.

The grunts only had Ratticate and Arbok and theoretically none of those should have stood a chance against the likes of Charizard and Mewtwo. But these were not ordinary Pokémon. Their eyes were blood red and it looked like they didn't know when to quit. Looking around, Ash saw that the generators had been sufficiently damaged. But turning your back to the enemy was a stupid thing to do and Ash turned back to see an Arbok jumping at him with nothing but bloodlust in his eyes.

He suddenly felt himself pushed to the ground as a man with red hair moved him out of the way of the Arbok. A large water Pokemon now stood before them and it wrestled the Arbok to the ground.

"Fergaligatr!", the man who had just rescued Ash shouted. "Hydro Cannon!"

Feraligatr breathed in for a moment before launching a massive torrent of water at the incoming Rocket forces. The water crashed into them, knocking them back several feet. Ash was still confused but had the presence of mind to command Mewtwo to teleport them out of the place.

Within seconds, Ash returned to his hideout on the outskirts of Faraway Island.

"You idiot! What were you thinking ?", the man with red hair demanded. Ash hadn't noticed that the man had been clutching onto his clothes at the time and had been teleported along with him.

"You're a Rocket!", Ash exclaimed, noticing the man's uniform. On closer inspection, he looked more of a boy than he did a man but his voice was quite manly.

"Well if you haven't noticed, I just saved your life and blew my cover in the process!"

"W-Who are you?"

"My name is Silver", the red haired boy replied. "And I was trying to work undercover before your stupid plan ruined it for me"

"Hey I didn't ask for you to save me!", Ash replied angrily. He was thankful that he had saved him but his attitude was annoying.

"Anyone who attempts to harm Team Rocket is an ally and I cannot let an ally die. Since it can't be helped, Hello Champion. My name is Silver and I live to see Giovanni die"

While Ash would have phrased it differently and while his hatred towards Team Rocket was more collective than just aimed at one person, he could see that this Silver guy and him had things in common. Perhaps they could get along.

"Well then, Silver. Welcome to my hideout. This is Faraway Island".


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N :Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed and followed. It honestly inspires writers a lot. Apologies for the almost sixteen day wait between chapter 1 and 2. I will try and do a chapter per week from now on. Once again, thanks to my amazing partner Lady Aweshumnesh, who was the first to read and give feedback as always. Here's to her for sticking with me through the good and the bad.**_

Chapter 2: Storming of the Houndoom's Lair

The sound of claws crashing into each other echoed through the deserted streets of Kanto's "City of Stone". A Scyther danced in the wind as it took out a horde of oncoming Sneasal. The ice types had bloodshot eyes that seemed to light up the night. They came in numbers, slashing at the Mantis Pokémon, but it moved in a blur, gliding through the air as its claws slashed through several Sneasal at a time. The ice types fell to the ground in a bloody heap. A masked figure walked up to the Scyther and patted its head. The bug type nuzzled into its trainer's hand, grateful at the attention it was receiving. Its trainer's face was completely covered in a motorcycle helmet and with a black turtle neck shirt that covered his lean yet muscular figure, there wasn't much to see about him. He wore a blue arm band on his left hand, that had the letter "A" written in white. The sleeve of his other arm had the gym badge of Celadon City, the Rainbow Badge.

Guards lined the outer boundary of the Houndoom's Lair. Even with electricity, Pewter City had been in a very bad state, having received the worst of the Day of the Beginning. The streets were deserted and most of the buildings looked like they had been through hell. A lot of the carnage hadn't even been cleaned in five years. Team Rocket didn't find much use for that since the citizens had been moved away to Cerulean and the city only had one purpose; it housed the central prison.

It was the only facility of its kind in all of Kanto under the new Rocket regime. Those who had been captive in jail before the The Day of the Beginning had all been converted to Rocket grunts. Now, though, it held nearly seven hundred captives. You didn't have to be a murderer or a thief or anything to end up here. Someone found to be even the tiniest bit suspicious was headed for jail, better known as the Houndoom's Lair.

The building was once a Museum. It was a three storey building with several underground levels used for storing rare items. With a little remodelling, it became perfect to serve as a prison. Although it wasn't like the building itself hadn't suffered during the Day of the Beginning. Large parts of it had been burnt and even though they had been repaired since then, they remain unpainted.

The news of an intruder attacking the guards near the exit leading to Mount Moon rang alarms across the city. Since the destruction of the Power Plant, guard duty had become a lot more difficult. The radios weren't working and neither were the streetlights. Two squads of grunts marched to the eastern border, led by Magnetons, whose sparks lit the way.

They came to a standstill when they saw a solitary figure and a Scyther standing there and looking at the sky.

"The fucker must be crazy", one of the grunts snorted. His expression shortly changed when he noticed the helmet and the arm band. "A motorcycle helmet and a Scyther. Shit you must be-". Before the grunt could finish the sentence, he saw a green blur dash by him. He fell to the ground clutching the deep gash that now ran across his stomach.

"Finish them", Scyther's trainer commanded before looking back up at the sky once again.

SC

"And that", Ash said excitedly, "is the plan". Silver did not say anything and kept cleaning his pokeballs.

"So your plan was to break into Cerulean City after taking down the powerplant, completely on your own, to rescue Bill?" Silver seem bemused. "I know you're one of the best trainers in the world but Cerulean's a major city and it's naturally going to be heavily guarded. In fact, it will have a lot more guards than the Powerplant. That was in an isolated area".

"Don't you go all Lance on me now", Ash replied. His excitement seemed to have been deflated by Silver's reaction. "I know it's going to be difficult but with no electricity, our element of surprise will be stronger", Ash tried to argue the merits of his plan.

"And what's the benefit of rescuing this Bill again?"

"He runs the Pokémon Storage and Transportation System. If we can break him out, Team Rocket won't be easily to transport those crazy Pokémon of theirs so easily anymore".

"Very well then", Silver replied, still seemingly unconvinced.

It had been two days since the incident at the Powerplant, and according to the intel from James, it had caught Team Rocket off guard. The darkness that spread across the country could inspire one thing and one thing alone; Anarchy. There had been civilian uproars in Lavender and Fuchsia. They did not amount to much but it was a huge improvement from the sort of silent consent that the citizens of Kanto had been giving with their willingness to accept their fate.

Since leaving the Rebellion, Ash had made a fairly comfortable base on Faraway Island. He had a small log cabin with an old but comfortable enough mattress. There was a lot of undisturbed vegetation on the island so food was not an issue either. Silver did not mind the living arrangements. He just had a hard time getting used to Ash's enthusiasm for, well, anything.

He had heard a lot about the Champion of Kanto. He had read that Ash Ketchum was a trainer with a unique ability of bringing the best out of his Pokémon. In many cases his Pokémon were not fully evolved either but with Ash's support, they did extraordinary things. He thought Ash would be some calm and calculative genius. Ash was, to Silver's surprise, nothing near that. He was always bursting with energy and was easily excitable. If it looked like a small log could be used to poke a Rocket Grunt in the stomach, he would start running around the log like it was some big invention. Silver felt a bit disheartened thinking that this very trainer was the face of the civil uprising in many ways. The Vengeance operated too aggressively and the Rebellion barely did anything. Ash was the perfect middle ground. The public thought of him as some hero. But to Silver, he also seemed very stupid.

Ash enjoyed having Silver around. He was quite. A bit too quite. But it was nice to have another person around. He loved his Pokémon but he hadn't had much human contact since leaving the Rebellion. Somehow his presence reassured Ash. Silver had that cool and confident vibe and Ash could tell he was a strong trainer.

At around nine, Mewtwo teleported the two to the edge of Cerulean Cave. James awaited them with Team Rocket uniforms and fake IDs.

SC

Two figures jumped from roof to roof. They wore black turtle neck shirts over baggy off-white pants. The first was a girl with long curly red hair. Her green eyes created a striking contrast with her wind swept hair, which seemed to resemble flames as she ran. A shorter male ran behind her. He didn't look older than thirteen. His big eyes shone through his goggles. His hair was messy and a slighter shade of red. They both wore "A" armbands.

"Slow down, sis!", the boy shouted after the girl, panting for his breath.

"You're such a slowpoke, Luke", the girl said playfully. "This is our first mission in days. It's going to be so fun".

Several Fearow zoomed in on them from the sky. The two threw their Pokeballs and an Espeon and an Umbreon appeared.

"Light! Use Psybeam!", the girl commanded her Espeon.

"Night! Use Shadow Ball", the boy commanded his Umbreon.

"Mind Beam Combo!" the two shouted in unison.

The beam of psychic energy wrapped around the ball of dark energy and engorged in size before splitting into two, then four, then eight, before sixteen orbs of energy crashed into the Fearow.

The two kept running, stopping only after they were near the building they could identify as the abandoned Gym. It was the meeting place for the all the squads.

"Looks like we're the first squad to clear our road", the girl said excitedly, high fiving her panting brother.

The plan had been put together in less than three hours. When the news of the attack on the powerplant spread across Kanto, many who opposed Team Rocket realized this was a prime chance to do something big. The Vengeance had never worked with Ash Ketchum before but their leader, Adam, was grateful for what he had done. This created the perfect opportunity for something he had wanted to do for a long time. Pewter City housed the prisons and thousands of those who had opposed Team Rocket were being held captive there. With the wildlife of Viridian Forest and Mount Moon blocking the entrances to the city from the South and the East, Pewter would be an ideal zone to base their mission of reclaiming Kanto.

The elite members were split into two man squads that would clear the various entrance routes and meet near the abandoned Gym before sending a signal to the rest of the members, who would then rush in and close the exits. After this there would only be one key fight left ; the actual attack on the Houndoom's Lair.

As Luke and his sister decided to catch a breather, they saw trucks filled with Rocket Grunts coming their way.

"Nita, look!", Luke alerted his sister.

"Ah the losers never quit", she sighed.

The truck approached them and the grunts prepared to jump out. But the sound of a roar rang across the night sky.

"Arcanine, BLAST BURN",

A majestic fire Pokémon sprang from the roof of a nearby building and launched a ferocious blast of fire at the truck. It struck the truck before the grunts could jump out. The fire collided with the truck's gas cylinder and the vehicle exploded, sending a massive flare into the sky.

"That'll work as the flare signal we had talked about", Arcanine's trainer said coldly as he walked up to Luke and his sister.

"Always one for excesses, aren't you Adam?", Nita teased.

Adam grunted before calling Arcanine back to its Pokeball.

The large flare signalled the squads at the outskirts to block off the exit. Two more 2-Man teams arrived at the gym.

SC

Bill's house stood near the harbour. It was far away from the usual residential areas of the city Bill had liked solitude. It helped him concentrate. Two guards slowly walked up to it. Their guard shift started at midnight, and they quietly exchanged spots with the two who had been on duty till that point. As they took their positions, the patiently waited for the outgoing guards to move out of sight.

Ash was excited ever since James had informed him that there were only two guards in front of Bill's house.

"Why aren't you as excited as I am?" Ash asked Silver, confusion clear in his voice.

"Because I've seen how Team Rocket works. There has to be something up", Silver replied in a stern voice.

_"I do not sense any other souls present nearby_", Mewtwo's voice echoed across both their heads.

"Looks like the bastards let their guard down", Ash said with a wide smile as he walked over to the door of Bill's house. Silver slowly followed, still unconvinced.

Science had once been a great passion for Bill. But since the Day of the Beginning, it had started to feel like bonded labour. He had never been the best looking, but he knew he had been fairly attractiveto the ladies once upon a time. He sighed as he felt his back start to ache again. Hours of sitting crouched at his desk had absolutely wrecked his back. The Rockets used the transportation system extensively and he was being forced to keep it functional with little electricity since the powerplant incident. His hair had grown to his shoulders and he had a very untidy beard covering much of his face. The sound of his door opening caught his attention. The light inside the room had been limited, mostly on the three screens on his desk. One of the grunts that came in had a Pikachu with him, and the sparks from the electric type's cheeks lit up the room.

Bill squinted his eyes, trying to get used to the new lighting. He was surprised by their visit. They only came in at three very particular times of the day, carrying a small package that had his meals. Dinner had already been delivered so they didn't have any reason to visit. The two grunts didn't walk as menacingly as Rocket Grunts usually did. Heck, one didn't seem menacing at all. What was even more strange in his eyes was how the Pikachu seemed so normal. Its eyes weren't bloodshot and it didn't look like the abominations Team Rocket dealt with.

"Bill?", one of the grunts asked him. His voice seemed oddly familiar to Bill.

"Y-yes?" Bill replied, still in his desk. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, we've come to get you out of here"

"E-excuse me?" Bill's eyes widened. "Are you moving me somewhere else? I've told you so many times I can't run the system from elsewhere!" Bill protested.

"Actually", the other grunt spoke up this time. His voice was far more authoritative. "The plan is for you to not run the system anymore".

"What?", Bill managed to stammer. He was beyond confused.

One of the grunts slowly removed his cap and fixed his hair.

"Bill! It's me, Ash!", Ash said reassuringly.

Bill winked several times before he began to violently shake his head. "ASH GET OUT!", Bill shouted at him. "GET OUT RIGHT NOW!".

"What are you talking about?" It was Ash's turn to be confused.

"There's no time to explain", Bill replied, clearly panicking. "Just go!".

"I think he's working with the Rockets, Ash", Silver interjected.

"NO!", Bill cried out. "Well, yes but there is-"

Before Bill could finish, the sound of a large megaphone rang through the house.

"Imposters, show yourselves before we fire!"

"You!" Silver charged up to Bill and grabbed him by the collar. "You informed them somehow, didn't you?"

"N-no. I told you to get out!", Bill managed to reply.

"I'll keep him under watch, Ash", Silver said to Ash, keeping his eyes on Bill. "Deal with the bastards outside".

Ash nodded and moved for the exit. Before opening the door, he snapped his fingers twice in succession.

"_THUNDER_!" an almost titanic voice rang through the surrounding area before waves of vicious electric energy crashed down. Ash walked out to see Mewtwo release several mighty sparks of electricity at the Arbok and Gengar that had lined up infront of the Grunts.

"CHARIZARD ! LUCARIO !", Ash shouted throwing two Pokeballs foreward.

Charizard and Lucario charged at the Pokémon that Mewtwo had not been able to take down. An Arbok sprang with its fangs open, looking to sink its teeth into Charizard's neck.

"Flamethrower ! burn it down!", Ash shouted at Charizard. However the poision type was too quick, easily dodging the fire attacks. It's jaws sank into Charizard's neck. Charizard pulled at it, trying to dislodge it from its neck. Wrapping both arms around its tail, the fire type yanked with all its might. Noticing it's partner's plight, Lucario slashed at the Arbok's gut with a Force Palm. The Arbak split in half, smothering the ground in its blood.

A Mightyena rushed at Charizard in the chaos but the fire type was able to land on target this time, hitting the dark type with a mammoth Fire Blast. Several fighting Pokémon, more specifically two Machamp and a Hitmonchan, were locked in a melee duel with Lucario.

Charizard whizzed through the fighting area and grabbed the Hitmonchan by the gut and flew up with it. The Hitmonchan tried to break free, hammering at Charizard's stomach with a mixture of Thunderpunch and other punches. Charizard gritted its teeth and endured the attacks before throwing Hitmonchan down to the ground with force. Before the fighting type hit the ground, Lucario broke free of the two Machamp and positioned itself just where the Hitmonchan was about to land. It jumped up, meeting the falling Hitmonchan in mid-air before driving a Thunderpunch through its stomach. The Fighting type coughed blood before its lifeless body hit the ground. By then, Mewtwo had concentrated enough energy to launch a mass Hypnosis attack. Within seconds, the Rocket grunts and their remaining Pokémon were asleep.

One thing Ash had learnt about Team Rocket's Pokémon was that killing was, sadly, the only way. These Pokémon did not faint. You either killed them or they would get up and eventually kill you. He was relieved beyond measure when he and Mewtwo had been able to develop the Mass Hypnosis Attack. Putting them to sleep did not weigh on his conscience. Despite everything he had lost, killing disturbed him.

Ash walked back inside to see Silver had stripped Bill down completely.

"He was telling the truth", Silver said in his usual tone. "There's nothing on his body. He did not inform them".

Ash was shocked at how normally Silver could say that. As if nothing had happened. He had just forced a man to strip naked.

"Then how did they know?", Ash asked confused.

"There-", Bill coughed as he tried to speak. "There are cameras and sensors inside my body", Bill said, coughing blood.

SC

Toru tossed and turned in his bed. He felt warm. He could feel sweat all over his body. The distinct smell of ash drifted into his nose. Was this a dream?

"Toru! Toru wake up!" he heard an excited voice call out for him. He opened his eyes to see Trevor looking at him, excitement clear on his face. They had been inmates for a long time and he had never seen Trevor like this.

'"What's going on?" Toru asked, clearing his throat. "Why is it so warm? Is the building on fire?"

"NO!" Trevor almost shouted at him. "All the guards left the hall. That can only mean thing, Toru! Somebody's storming the Houndoom's Lair! Someone's going to get us out of here!".

Around thirty Rocket Grunts watched in horror as an Arcanine jumped into the air and breathed in. Streams of fire shot out from its mouth.

"You have lost the right to live. BURN!" Adam's voice seemed to echo like a siren.

Every last one of the grunts guarding the front gate howled in agony as the fire engulfed them.

Adam jumped onto Arcanine's back as the majestic canine galloped through the facility's main entrance.

A bolt of lightning blocked Arcanine's path and the fire type skidded to a halt.

From the shadowy halls, a muscular man with short, blonde hair emerged. He was bare chested and had a smug grin on his face.

"You know", the man spoke up. "That is some arrogance you have. Just barging in through the front door. You could at least try to and sneak in through the windows or something".

Adam did not reply.

"Motorcycle helmet , an Arcanine and a fuckin' attitude. You must be Adam the something", the main said, his voice not seeming as unnerved as he would have preferred.

"The face of a traitor and a very ugly haircut. You're Surge ".

The tone in Adam's voice made Surge uncomfortable. It was mechanical. And he couldn't see what his face was like. A human without a face was difficult to judge.

"Raichu!"

The electric rodent appeared from the shadows, sparks flying from its cheeks.

Adam jumped off of Arcanine. The two Pokémon jumped at each other.

Nita and Luke sprang down the halls of the facility. The ground was littered with the bodies of Rocket grunts. They had snuck in through the windows thanks to the diversion created at the front by Adam. They broke the bars of every cell they came across, being met with cheers from the inmates. Two other 2-man Squads did the same in other parts of the facility.

A blast of fire clashed with a bright spark of electricity in mid-air, causing a large explosion. Arcanine and Raichu were both panting.

"So you didn't turn your Raichu into one of those things", Adam said, noticing the normal eyes of the electric type. They were not bloodshot. "Guess you have feelings too."

"Heh", snorted. "IRON TAIL!", he shouted.

Raichu hardened its tail before aiming at Arcanine's skull.

"Move to the right!", Adam shouted. Arcanine did accordingly, and moved away from the oncoming Raichu. A Magneton appeared from the shadows, behind where Arcanine had move to, and launched a vicious electric attack on the fire type.

"I respect you enough to know you wouldn't fall for the Iron Tail. That was just a diversion", crackled with laughter as he saw Arcanine's body becoming limp.

"How silly of me", Adam said in a reflective tone. "To think you'd play fair. Scyther, do it".

Before Surge could react to that statement, Scyther appeared behind him and drove its claw into his stomach. The former gym leader turned Rocket clutched at his bleeding gut before falling to the ground.

"Some hero you are", he said as he fell into the puddle of his own blood.

"I do not ask to be taken as a hero", Adam replied in his characteristic dead voice.

The Raichu looked at its now dead trainer with a confused look. Adam noticed the tears in its eyes. Walking over to it, Adam crouched down to meet its eyes.

"I believe Pokémon are better than us humans. They just listen to their trainers too much.", Adam said, while slowly petting its head. The Raichu looked on in astonishment.

SC

Bill had his clothes back on and set on the floor. He still looked very pale and Ash wished he could do something for his old friend.

"I was a high priority scientist", Bill began, still coughing frequently. "They needed me but they knew I'd never co-operate. They have some scientists who do these strange experiments for the sake of science. There's this guy, Colress. They brought him in from Unova. He made the injections that make Pokémon go crazy. You know, those things with the bloodshot eyes and that lust for blood ? Well it's an injection called the "Plus 5" that Colress made for them. Well I wouldn't work like him so they kidnapped me and", Bill shivered as he spoke, "They altered my body. It was Colress himself. That guy's a nutter. He's fucked in the head, him. They fit cameras and sensors and what not inside my body. I have no clue how that worked. They see what I see, they sense where I am. If I stop working at any time apart from meals and bed, my body starts to ache from the inside. They trapped me".

Ash's eyes widened in shock. This was the first time he had heard of Team Rocket doing something on humans. Silver was visibly shocked too. He tried hard to maintain his calm outer visage but he knew was failing.

"They've got me trapped, Ash", Bill said, "I am sure they can see this and they are sending reinforcements again. The only reason they had so few guards outside was because they can guard me from inside of me. They've got me trapped".

"Well let me get you out of here", Ash interjected. "I'll take you to our hideout!"

"NO!" Bill shouted back. "Didn't you hear me? I said they put fucking SENSORS inside me. They'll track you down!"

"B-but", Ash sounded defeated. He was never the brightest of thinkers. He didn't know what to do.

"Only way out for me is suicide". Bill said calmly. Ash felt he was saying a bit too calmly.

"But I can't do that either. They use those sensor things to shut my muscles down if I try to strangle myself. Sneaking poison under their watch, as you can tell, is also impossible".

"W-hat do we do now?", Ash asked looking in Silver's direction. He prayed and hoped Silver would have a solution.

"They can't do anything if someone else kills you, can they?", Silver asked Bill. Ash felt like a thundershock had run through his body. "WHAT ARE YOU-". Before Ash could finish, Bill spoke up.

"No", Bill replied.

"Do you want me to?", Silver asked him again.

"Yes. Set me free. It'll save me. And they won't be able to use the transportation system anymore. Blow up the equipment before you go", Bill said coldly.

"NOW BILL YOU HAVE GOT BE-", Ash tried to protest. "SHUT UP , ASH", Bill shouted at him at the top of his voice. His body was violently shaking and a few tears had formed in his eyes.

"Hurry up. They will send another squad soon", Bill said to Silver, more calmly this time.

Silver's eyes looked scared. Ash could see that. But his voice remained stern.

"Feraligatr", Silver through the water type's Poke-ball foreward. "Slash", Silver commanded, pointing at Bill.

Just as Bill's lifeless body hit the floor, the sound of another squad of Rocket's drawing near alerted Ash and Silver.

"_It's Jessie's squad_", Mewtwo's voice rang through their heads.

"We can't afford to fight her now", Silver said. "Take us back to Faraway Island".

"I cannot teleport that far. Mass Hypnosis uses up a lot of energy. Farthest I can go is inside Mount Moon", Mewtwo replied.

The mining in there had been abandoned since Team Rocket had used up every last bit of Moon Stones available. It was going to be safe. That was something Silver knew from his time of sneaking around Team Rocket's files.

"Take us there then"

Before Mewtwo began the teleportation, a big Flamethrower burnt down all of Bill's equipment. He had spent his entire life developing the system. Ash felt guilty. Had he failed _another_ friend?

SC

The inmates were gathered at a field near the prison. They breathed in the open air for the first time in months. The air smelt of fire, of destruction and death but even then , it was free, open air. Many of them had given up hope. Nobody had a definite sentence inside the Houndoom's Lair. Once someone was in, he was in for life.

"My fellow citizens", Adam spoke to them. "I apologize for not being able to help you earlier. We are very weak and we are short on numbers. We work in the shadows and don't have all the luxuries that some that try to be heroes do. Anyhow, we will turn Pewter into a freezone. You are free to stay here for as long as you like. We suggest you do stay. However, if some of you wish to join us and fight with us, please, by all means do."

A hand shot up. Adam looked to see a teen aged boy standing up. "My name is Toru, sir. I wish to join you".

"Very well. Do you have experience with Pokémon?"

"Yes sir, but they were all confiscated when I was caught"

"That is alright. We will provide you with Pokémon."

"Thank you. And Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Do you have any Pidgeys?"

Nobody could tell because of the helmet that masked his face but inside, Adam was slightly amused.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Every house in Kanto had been alerted to turn on the state owned TV network at exactly 8pm. It had only been a few hours since the electricity had been restored. Every house obeyed. It was routine for informants to randomly drop by during orders such as these. If any house was found to be not following orders, they could expect trouble.

Watching a tyrannical leader spew out rubbish wasn't the way most families would prefer to have their dinner but there wasn't much choice.

"My dear citizens of Kanto", Geovanni began his speech. The platform he was sitting on had a large R symbol drawn across it. Several portraits of himself lined the wall behind him.

"Terrorists have been running amok in our great nation these past few days. They have caused trouble to our electricity, they have damaged our infrastructure and they have caused great harm to the lives of our fellow people. Trouble started with one of the ace terrorists, the disgraced Champion Ash Ketchum, who mercilessly destroyed our Powerplant. It is people like Ash Ketchum who remind us that the great power of Pokémon should not be in everyone's hands. Kanto is a nation that has made great progress since the partnership between us, Team Rocket and you, the great people of Kanto has been established. We have seen how fast the economy can grow when the power of Pokémon is in the hands of a limited few. It enables the masses to truly embrace progress. Yet these terrorists keep getting in the way. Then the band of Savages led by another ace terrorist, Adam of Celadon, orchestrated an invasion of Pewter City. Pewter City was home to the State Prison, which housed some of the fiercest criminals alive. The terrorists have freed them all. I can only fear what happens next".

"However", Geovanni stamped his hand on the table. "We shall resist. They have killed many civilians in their attacks. We shall avenge them all. Just believe in us".

"What a load of horsecrap", a young boy, probably fourteen or fifteen, said as he chewed his dinner.

"Quiet, Nathan." his mother was anxious. She looked towards Nathan's father for reassurance. There had been rumours of some walls actually having ears under the Rocket regime.

"You should keep quiet, Nathan. It's because of hotheaded kids like you that we can't have peace", Nathan's father said solemnly.

Nathan looked at his father with a look of disbelief.

"It's not like they're going to be able to defeat Team Rocket. The stupid rebels just keep creating trouble", Nathan's father said, fighting with his piece of steak. "Stupid hotheads".

Nathan's mother could see how the boy was fuming

SC

The teleportation circle opened, dropping Ash and Silver onto the cold, hard ground outside . Ash landed with a thud, which alerted the Vengeance members patrolling the area.

"ASH?" a bald Vengeance member said in shock.

Ash was still rubbing his head when he slightly opened his eyes to see a Magmorter pointing its fire cannon right at him.

"BLAINE?"

SC

Electricity had just been restored and already the Rocket platoons in Pallet and Viridian were quickly preparing for attack. HQ had sent an urgent order. The task was simple; Pewter had to be retaken before the public learnt too much of what had happened.

Leaf had been ordered to aid the platoons marching up to Pewter from Viridian. She would take a small squad from her station in Vermillion and attack Pewter from the East. She had heard about the attack led by Adam the Avenger. She just hoped she wouldn't have to come across any of her old friends. She hoped with all her heart.

SC

Blaine led Ash towards the centre of Pewter City. By then, Ash had explained why he and Silver were in Team Rocket costumes. It wasn't too difficult to buy the story. More or less everyone knew how Team Rocket had specifically hurt Ash Ketchum, Kanto's Champion. If Ash were to actually join Team Rocket after all that, there was very little hope left for humanity.

Silver felt uneasy. All the Vengeance members they had come across in the city were giving them strange looks. He had heard about the cold blooded attitude the organization had towards Team Rocket and here they were, two guys in Team Rocket uniforms. He felt thankful that Ash was such a known face.

Blaine brought them to a large, stone building. The walls had large holes in places and Silver could smell smoke. It was pretty clear that the building had been the site of a major fight not too long ago.

The hallway was dark and the only light inside was the small bits of sunshine coming in through the holes in the wall. A lean man in a black turtleneck shirt stood leaning against the wall. Silver couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed because of the motorcycle helmet that covered his face. Ash probably hadn't even noticed him yet since he was happily chatting with Blaine.

Suddenly the man with the motorcycle helmet jerked up and dashed towards Ash and Silver. A Scyther appeared from behind him and pointed its claws at Ash. An invisible wave of Psychic energy shoved the Scyther away. The mantis Pokémon crashed against the wall.

"ADAM STOP THAT'S ASH KETCHUM!", Blaine shouted.

Adam had been running towards Ash with a knife in hand but came to a halt. The knife was inches away from Ash's chest but Adam felt something tugging the knife away from his hand.

"It's ok, Mewtwo. You can stop", Ash said. Adam felt the tugging stop. He carefully examined the boy next to him. It really was Ash Ketchum. Mewtwo appeared besides Ash. Adam looked towards Mewtwo, then towards Silver and finally towards Ash.

"Well hello then, . I apologize for that but you can't blame me after wearing that uniform", Adam said in his characteristic mechanical voice. Silver felt a strange chill go down his spine at the sound of that voice.

"Um its ok I guess", Ash said. He was still rattled by what had just happened.

"I am Adam, the leader of The Vengeance. It is an honour to meet Kanto's Champion, ". Adam was seemingly examining Silver now.

"Oh please just call me Ash", Ash replied. Silver wasn't surprised at how quickly Ash had gone back to normal. It only took someone slightly petting his ego for all of Ash's walls to melt.

"And you are?" Adam said, turning to Silver.

"My name is Silver", Silver was trying to be as bold as possible, trying to look Adam at what he was hoping was Adam's eye. "I am a friend of Ash's. We work together".

"I see. A friend of Ash Ketchum will be my friend too, then". Adam extended his hand for a handshake. Silver extended his hand in response. Adam's handshake, no matter how ghostly the man himself seemed, gave Silver a feeling of reassurance.

"Well then", Adam reached for a Pokeball. "Would the Champion of Kanto be interested in a battle?"

"We really should rest", Silver tried to interject.

"YOU BET", Ash didn't even let Silver finish.

"Arcanine!", Adam threw a Pokeball forward.

"Pikachu!", Ash threw one of his.

"Wasn't your Pikachu always outside?", Blaine asked. "Yeah but ever since the invasion we agreed on using the Pokeball. Having Pikachu on my shoulder would give me away way too easily", Ash replied.

"Shall we begin?", Adam enquired.

"Sure!", Ash was ecstatic. He had missed proper battles in a long time.

"Arcanine, EXTREMESPEED!"

The regal fire type dashed towards Pikachu with blinding speed.

"Pikachu, let's show him your speed too! Quick Attack"

Pikachu sped up too, zigzagging through the floor to strike at Arcanine.

"Now, switch it to Volt Tacke!"

Sparks of electricity formed around Pikachu. Arcanine was caught off guard and couldn't stop. When the Pokémon tackled each other, Pikachu's electricity came out on top and sent Arcanine flying backwards.

"Very interesting", Adam muttered under his breath.

Arcanine shook the impact of the attack away and got back on its feet.

"Now then Arcanine, Flamethrower!"

Arcanine aimed a blast of fire towards Pikachu.

"Pikachu, dodge with Agility!"

Pikachu zipped around the flames with superspeed and neared in on Arcanine.

"Now, Iron Tail, Pikachu!"

Pikachu's tail started to glow. The electric mouse jumped into the air and aimed its tail at Arcanine.

"Take it!", Adam said quietly.

"WHAT?" Ash was surprised.

"He wants to wear Pikachu out", Silver thought to himself. "And it's a steel type attack so it won't do much on a fire type anyway. This Adam guy is clever"

Pikachu's attack landed right on Arcanine's skull but apart from seeming slightly dazed, Arcanine didn't seem effected at all.

"Now, Flamethrower again!"

"Didn't you see that doesn't work? Pikachu, Agility again!"

Pikachu kicked up speed again, dodging through the flames with relative ease. This time, though, it seemed to be panting.

"Now, Extremespeed, Arcanine!"

Arcanine sped up again, dashing at Pikachu. "Pikachu, counter with Quick Attack again!"

Pikachu seemed much slower than the last time. Arcanine easily beat it with pace and jumped over it, landing behind it.

"NOW FIRE BLAST!"

A 5 pronged beam of fire engulfed Pikachu. The electric type tried to jump away but the repeated use of speed based attacks had worn it down. The attack easily overpowered Pikachu and it fainted.

"Pikachu!", Ash ran towards his injured partner and picked it up.

"You've lost your strategic touch, haven't you?", Adam said in a matter-of-fact tone as he patted Arcanine. "You fell for such a simple ruse"

Silver walked up to Ash and crouched down, so he was eye to eye wish Ash. He gently rubbed Pikachu's ears. "Strategy has been the last thing on Ash's mind these past few years", Silver said, not looking Adam. "But yes, he is a bit dense"

"HELICOPTERS!", Nita rushed into the hallway.

"What?", Adam was annoyed. He had expected retaliation from Team Rocket's part. But he had expected at least a day or two before they came.

"Several choppers coming our away. The flying Pokémon we sent out saw them coming", she replied, panting.

"You will help, won't you?", Adam said, turning to Ash.

"Of course!" Ash was excited already. Silver was shocked again at how quickly Ash's spirits could be lifted.

"Idiot", he muttered under his breath.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N : A huge thank you for the response the last chapter got. The story is finally picking up, it seems. This chapter is something I have been excited about ever since the plot came to me. I hope I can carry it through without fucking up.

Please do review if you enjoy this story. Reviews are the best source of motivation for fanfiction writers!

Anyhow, this is for Nee, who is a family friend who passed away recently. The end is never the end. Rest in peace.

Chapter 4

New Kanto (Part 1)

Nita ran. She was exhausted from the earlier operation but she kept running. The sky suddenly turned grey. When Blaine had first brought the two trainers, one of which she later found out was the famous Ash Ketchum, the sky looked fairly bright. Anybody would think the day was going to be a bright one. Yet it turned dark shortly after the news of Team Rocket's counter attack had reached them. It was a strange coincidence but there were some people out there who believed Team Rocket could even control the weather. She knew it was simple fear driving them to think that way. She couldn't blame them. She had just seen Team Rocket's destruction first hand. They had trained for years to catch up to the strange Pokémon Team Rocket had used on the Day of the Beginning. But now they were back with stronger ones.

She jumped from the roof of building to building. The sounds of explosions and howls of pain rang out around her. But she knew who these howls were coming from. She knew these voices. And she hated the fact that these weren't the voices of Rocket grunts.

She had to find Adam. Adam was the one person who could do something. He had this ability. Adam was symbolized hope. But Adam was nowhere in sight. Her feet felt like caving in. A stray fire attack almost hit her but she dodged in time. She knew this attack. It was from Blaine's Magmorter. It would be ironic if she got killed by friendly fire. She felt like smirking at the thought but she didn't have the strength to move her facial muscles.

She saw a young man with in a rocket uniform approaching a few other Rocket Grunts. He seemed to move differently. The young man drew a Pokeball and out came a Lucario. The fighting type kneed and elbowed two other Rocket Grunts in the groin. The Rocket agents fell to the ground in pain. Nita was shocked. Were the Rockets fighting among themselves? Then it hit her. She had seen him in Rocket clothing earlier. This was Ash Ketchum and that was the Lucario he had used in the Pokémon League finals.

Nita jumped down and ran over to him.

"ASH KETCHUM!", she shouted as loudly as her exhausted body would let her. Her lungs were desperately seeking oxygen. She crouched down at her knees, panting like a madman.

Ash was shocked. He had seen her earlier. She was girl that come running in with the news of Team Rocket's counter-offensive. Her flamboyant red hair was an untidy mess. Her eyes looked like they had been given a peak into hell.

"Y-You have to help me", Nita urged, panting. "They have my brother. They caught Luke", Nita barely managed to finish.

"Take me to them", Ash replied firmly. He knew if Silver had been there, he would have argued against the strategic value of risking the fight to save one person. He was slightly glad Silver was fighting somewhere else.

"Follow me", Nita began to walk again.

"Wait, you're in condition to run again", Ash said firmly. "Where have they kept him?"

"Viridian Forest", Nita said while drinking from the bottle of water Ash had handed her.

"Hold my hand", Ash said matter-of-factly.

"W-what?", Nita was surprised. Was he trying to hit on her in the middle of a battlezone? Nita wanted to ask him what was going on but his eyes had a sense of confidence that reassured her. She complied.

"MEWTWO!", Ash shouted.

A teleportation circle opened right where Ash had been standing.

SC

The Vengeance members were vastly outnumbered. Team Rocket had sent nearly every last available unit in Viridian and Pallet to retrieve Pewter.

The Vengeance units sent to guard the main entrance to Pewter, from the northern gate of Viridian Forest, had been almost massacred.

Team Rocket advanced through the city quickly. The second string of Vengeance members were putting up a better fight but even then, it only looked like a matter of time before they fell too.

Swarms of Beedrill circled around Silver. The sight of the bugs sent a tingle down his spine. He hated bugs. They brought back memories. _Alone in a forest. Crying for help_.

Silver clenched his teeth. "Houndoom ! Fire Blast! Burn every last one!", Silver sounded frightened. His Pokémon knew this sound. He was never like this unless they were bug types around. They knew that this was one thing their otherwise brave master could not bear to go eye-to-eye with.

The fire burnt the bug types to a crisp. Silver let out a sigh of relief. But the sound of buzzing wings caught his attention. One of the Beedrill had large parts of its body burnt. Silver could smell the burnt flesh. Yet it kept coming. One of its arms had been burnt completely. It raised whatever was left of its other arm and came at Silver. Its eyes were bloodshot.

Silver froze. He tried to shut his eyes. _Alone in a forest. Thousands of bugs. No food. Cold nights. An Ariados attacking._

Houndoom acted on its own accord and took the almost zombie of a Pokémon down with another fire attack. Houndoom came over to its owner and licked his palm. Silver snapped out. His Pokémon had seen this happen before. Silver froze when he saw bug types.

Shouts of "HELP!" caught Silver's attention. He saw two Vengenace members being attacked by a vicious Mightyena. Silver ran over to help.

SC

A man in a long white lab coat stood atop a building. His eyes were covered by circular glasses. He had a streak of blue in the middle of his neatly trimmed blonde hair. He looked excited as he observed what was going on in the ground.

"My my, Professor Colress", a young woman with curly, long blue hair said as she walked up to him. Her voice had a very sensual tone to it and she kept twirling a bit of her hair with her fingers as she spoke. "You have really outdone yourself this time".

Professor Colress did not take his eye off the fighting going on underneath. "Yes. These are the new Plus 7 injections. They're much more potent than the Plus 5 ones".

"So these are stronger than the ones we had during the invasion? Pardon me, during the Day of the Beginning?", she asked. "I can clearly see that they're far more effective. Our useless grunts look like aces with these".

"Yes, Karen. They are far better. These can also work on humans", he replied in a proud voice.

"You mean you've tried these on humans?", Karen seemed a bit uncomfortable. She wasn't sure if Professor Colress noticed her taking a few steps away from him.

Professor Colress did not reply. He took out a piece of paper and jotted something down. He cancelled out whatever he had written and through the crumbled paper away.

"Still not perfect", he muttered under his breath.

"I'm done here. I'll be leaving", Colress turned towards the helicopter parked on the roof.

"See ya", Karen gave him a wave.

SC

The teleportation circle opened at the edge of Viridian Forest. Ash had gotten used to it over time and landed gracefully. Nita tumbled over and was about to fall before Ash caught her.

"You wait here", Ash said, helping her stand up. "I'll go get your brother".

"No! I want to help!", Nita protested. "I may not be a Champion but I can help!"

"I am sure you are strong but you are injured and I am guessing your Pokémon aren't better off either", Ash said firmly. "Trust me. I'll get your brother back. Now rest here".

Nita wanted to protest again but she realized she would probably end up slowing Ash down.

"Can you sense them?", Ash asked Mewtwo.

"_Yes. About 30 yards ahead at 2 o'clock_", Mewtwo replied.

Ash crept as quietly as he could through the grass. The last time he had been here was years ago, near the beginning of his journey. He felt a smile creep up on his face as he recalled the way he had caught his first Pokémon right in this forest. It was a far simpler time. He had never imagined going to war or having to kill or wanting to kill. He sighed as he caught sight off a clearing. About twenty Rocket grunts sat around on the ground. A few injured Grunts were being treated. This was their base, he could guess.

He noticed a few Vengeance members tied with trees. A fat looking Rocket grunt seemed to be interrogating them. Ash tried to hear the exchanges.

"So once we beat the crap out of yer friends, they'll retreat to their old base", the Rocket grunt said, grabbing one of the hostages by the shoulders. The hostage was a young boy with short, red hair. Judging by the hair, Ash guessed he was Nita's brother. Ash looked around to see several Pokeballs in a leather sack. They probably belonged to the hostages.

"So just tell us where this base of yours is and we won't let Professor Colress turn you into zombies", the Grunt snorted. "Professor Colress is the guy behind our crazy Pokémon. He's gotten into human experimentation now. He could use some lab rats", the grunt chuckled as he said this.

Ash felt a feeling of hatred brew inside him. It was the same feeling he had whenever he thought about his mother or Misty or Brock. He hated the feeling of uselessness the memory of their deaths made him feel. Then the memory of the previous night came flooding into this mind._ Bill. _"Not another comrade", Ash thought to himself. "Not a single on". But he knew he had to be stealthy or he would get caught out. He wished Silver had been there to plan things out for them.

The boy did not reply. The grunt walked up to another hostage. The next hostage was a girl, who Ash guessed wasn't much older than he was, with glasses and short, brown hair. She didn't seem to have the same resolve the boy with red hair did. In fact she looked terrified.

"So what do we have here? Well then, pretty miss, won't you co-operate?", the Grunt said to her, moving very close to her. Ash felt sick seeing what was going on in front of him. The grunt moved her chin up with a finger and looked her in the eye. "Just tell me. Come on now", the Grunt urged her. Ash couldn't tell from the distance but the girl seemed to be shaking. A lot of people had joined to fight the war. Not everyone was made for war, though. Ash gritted his teeth. He needed time.

"If you won't tell me, I have no need to play nice", the Grunt said, lowering his finger down her neck.

"DON'T YOU DARE", Luke shouted out, trying to shake off the binds that wrapped him to the tree.  
"Don't I dare what, little man?" the Grunted said, bringing his finger down to the girl's chest/

"I'll stop if you tell me where the base is", the Grunt said, looking the girl in the eye.  
"Please don't", the girl was begging him. The tears streamed down her eyes.

"As I said, I'll co-operate if you co-operate". The grunt reached for a knife.

Several of the rocket grunts sitting around the base whistled and cheered. Ash felt disgusted. He wanted to burn them to a crisp. Then his head started to ache. He hated them. He wanted to kill them. But he also hated wanting to kill. "This is not the time to have these doubts", Ash furrowed his forehead. He couldn't use Mass Hypnosis. Then the hostages would fall asleep too and carrying them to a safe place would be too difficult. Plus the grunts would reawaken at some point and with the fight going on in the city, he knew he had to eliminate them. He had a plan.

A spark of electricity landed on the Head Grunt's head. He found himself unable to move.

Ash punched the air. Pikachu had managed to finally go around the base and target the Head Grunt with a Thunderwave from close range from atop one of the trees. The overcast skies, together with the general lack of light within the forest, gave Pikachu a lot of scope for camouflage. Ash realized Pikachu would've made it much faster if it hadn't been tired from the battle with Adam.

The Thunderwave was a very minute spark of electricity, designed to ensure the other grunts didn't see anything. The Head Grunt was still positioned in such a way that it looked like he was talking to the girl. From a distance, the remaining grunts wouldn't be able to tell.

After a few minutes, the grunts could feel something was going on. A few of them began to walk up to the Head Grunt. This gave Ash the clearing he had been waiting for.

The sound of large wings flapping in the air made some of the grunts look behind them. They saw a Charizard in mid-air and one of their grunts on its back.

"Hey what's the big idea?", one of the grunts shouted at the Charizard's trainer.

The Charizard's trainer did not reply. Instead, he pointed his finger towards them and Charizard launched a ferocious fire attack. Although a few of the grunts got caught up in the fire, most of them managed to dodge.

The surviving grunts all reached for their Pokeballs and several Pokémon materialized. Ash noticed the lack of flying Pokémon, which made him feel more confident. "The plan should work, then"

Luke felt something tugging at the ropes that had been used to bind him. After the ropes fell open, he noticed a Pikachu had been the one to untie him. He realized very quickly what was happening and who the trainer in the sky was. Luke quickly untied the other hostages.

Going over the girl who had been harassed, Luke helped her up.

"What do we do now?" the girl asked him. She was still visibly shaken.

"We need to get our Pokémon back, Karla. That sack over there", Luke said, pointing to the leather sack on the table. "That's where they've kept our Pokémon".

Before he could go over to the sack, Luke saw Karla walk up the Rocket grunt who had molested her. She reached for his utility belt and pull out a Swiss knife. Luke didn't need to look again to know what she was going to do.

The grunts at the base kept aiming at Charizard but none of the attacks hit. Ash observed how the hostages had managed to retrieve their Pokeballs. He watched as Pikachu guided them to a corner of the base.

"HEY! THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!", one of the Grunts shouted as he ran after them.

"Time for Phase 2", Ash smirked.

Lucario jumped out from the bushes and kicked the Grunt in the gut. The Grunt's Pokémon, a Scizor, drove its claws into Lucario's guts. It was a Metal Claw attack. The steel attack did not do much at all to the Steel/Fighting type Lucario but the sheer force of the attack still unsettled the Aura Pokémon.

Lucario countered with an Aura Sphere that seemed to do a good deal of damage to Scizor. As the Scizor was attempting to fight back, Infernape incinerated it with a Flamethrower, leaving the churned the body motionless.

A Mamoswine launched an Earthquake , which left Lucario wrecked. A Golem followed with a Rollout, which left the fighting type breathless. Infernape hit the Mamoswine with a Sky Uppercut but couldn't deliver the finishing blow as the Golem diverted its course and came towards Infernape.

Several Dark types, including two Absol, had ganged up on Mewtwo. Each and every Rocket grunt had been trained specifically to counter Ash Ketchum and the legendary Pokémon that was aiding him. Surrounded by Dark Energy, Mewtwo's Psychic energy was practically useless.

Ash watched as both of his Pokémon were left devastated from the joint onslaught by the Mamoswine and the Golem. He knew he would have to interfere. By then, Pikachu had led the hostages away from the area. Lightning roared across the sky and the winds started to catch up, making it more difficult for Charizard to stay in flight.

"HYPER BEAM!", Ash shouted orders to Charizard. The beam of energy hit both Golem and Mamoswine, knocking them several feet backwards.

"THUNDER!", one of the remaining Grunts shouted. Several Magnetons came together in formation and began to charge electricity, aiming at Ash. Using Hyper Beam had left Charizard unable to do anything at all and it would still be a few minutes before it could resume mobility. Infernape and Lucario had almost fainted. Mewtwo was surrounded by the Dark types. Pikachu was too far away. He was far too high in the sky to jump.

Ash realized he was done for.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N : Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed the story so far. This chapter will conclude the primary arc of the story. I am not sure just how many arcs are going to come but if this was a show, I guess this would mark the end of the first season. _

_Please do review. Reviews help and motivate. Reviews are great. God bless reviews. _

Chapter Five

New Kanto (part2)

Ash shut his eyes. So he _had_ failed. There would be nobody to avenge his mother, nobody to avenge Misty or Brock. Would Adam and the others manage to take Team Rocket down? Bill had asked him to avenge him. He had let Bill down too.

The shrill cry of a female voice echoed through Ash's mind.

"ESPEON! DISBALE!"

He knew this voice. It was the girl with the beautiful red hair. She sure was stunning. Had he lived, he might have tried to woo her someday. But that didn't matter anymore. He was about to die.

Charizard roared.

"What?", Ash opened his eyes.

The Magneton were frozen in space. A purple light surrounded them.

"ASH! ASH ARE YOU OKAY?", a female voice called out to him.

Ash looked down to see Nita. Her Espeon was locked in a battle stance. It started to make sense to him. Nita had just saved him! Charizard roared again. The after effects of Hyper Beam had clearly worn off. It was ready for action again.

Ash ordered Charizard to touch down.

"Thank you", Ash tried to sound as sincere as possible. In truth, he didn't know how he should sound. He was sure he was going to die.

"You saved my brother. I am willing to die for you, if need be", Nita replied. Ash could see she was still exhausted.

"Charizard, take the Magneton out with Flamethrower". Charizard shot a fierce streak of fire at the disabled Magneton. The steel types, already defenceless because of Espeon's Disable, had nowhere to run from the onslaught of fire. Their trainers ran behind the Golem and Mamoswine.

Ash looked around to see Infernape and Lucario on the ground. Charizard wouldn't be able to do much against Golem and judging by the way it stood, Nita's Espeon didn't have much left in the tank either. Ash looked across the battlezone to see Mewtwo surrounded by dark types.

"Charizard!", Ash called out to the fire type. "Take out the Pokémon surrounding Mewtwo!".

Charizard flew over to the Absol. The Grunts quickly picked up on what was going on and ordered Golem and Mamoswine to stop it.

"Cover Charizard!", Ash instructed Nita.

"Espeon! Stop Golem and Mamoswine! Give it everything you've got", Nita urged her Pokémon.

The psychic type looked shaky and Ash wasn't sure if it was because Espeon was just so loyal to its trainer or because it could sympathize with Mewtwo's situation that it jumped in the way of the oncoming Golem and Mamoswine and launched a Psychic. As the attack hit, Espeon hit the ground out of exhaustion.

The attack hit both Golem and Mamoswine flat on the face, pushing them back several feet. This bought Charizard just the amount of time it needed to reach the two Absol ganging up on Mewtwo. Charizard slashed at the two Dark Types pushing them away. This allowed Mewtwo to get away from the range of Dark Energy.

"Mewtwo! Eliminate Golem and Mamoswine!", Ash shouted out his orders. Mewtwo could sense that Ash was beginning to panic.

Mewtwo, wounded from its encounters with the Dark Types, flexed its arms and began to concentrate. Light started to circle around it.

"What's it doing?", Nita was confused.

"It's using Recover", Ash replied, still trying to work out the best course of action. He was exhausted and his mind was starting to feel numb.

SC

The clouds were relentless. Adam's body was soaked to the core. He tried to come with a plan but he couldn't think of much. He had taken out several grunts and he knew he could take out more when they came. But he was also sure that Team Rocket wouldn't wager an operation as big as this on mere grunts. There were sure to be ace trainers around, at least two of them. His Pokémon were already exhausted and he wasn't sure how he would fare against genuinely skilled trainers now. Whatever the hell Team Rocket did to their Pokémon, it made even average grunts seem like masters. What real aces could do with these Pokémon, Adam shuddered to think.

The fact that he was intimidated annoyed Adam even more. He knew his men relied on him for moral support. Most of the members of the Vengeance were those who had personally lost something because of the Rocket invasion. They all had grudges against Team Rocket, grudges that were strong enough to kill. But he also knew that mere motivation didn't win fights. Motivation helped but in the real world, dreams and goals did not always work out. He clutched at his right arm. One of the enemy Pokémon had managed to have a go at him before Arcanine interfered. He mounted Arcanine, fighting through the pain. Arcanine was a very loyal Pokémon and he knew Arcanine would fight till its last breath. But he wondered if even that would be good enough.

Arcanine dashed through the city's streets. The newest rounding of fighting had left Pewter looking like a ghost town. Bodies, both of Vengeance members and Rocket grunts, littered the streets. Adam was used to death by this point but even then, it made him feel uneasy. Nobody knew that Adam often doubted himself. He didn't mind if his actions got himself killed. But knowing that the lives of his men depended on his decisions and his judgement always made Adam think twice.

Adam saw a Vengeance member being ganged up on by three Rocket Grunts. Adam knew this recruit. His name was Frederick. He was a farm boy, not older than thirteen. Team Rocket had killed his father when he refused to hand over their family farm. This obviously meant Frederick had a strong reason to hate Rockets. But that didn't mean he would be able to fight back. Raising Pokémon, the fair way, took a lot of time and patience, things you did not have luxury of having during a war.

The Rockets stood behind three Arbok as Frederick's Manectric was clearly getting demolished. Arcanine jumped in between them, majestically dancing through the attacks before hitting all three Poison types in one go with a Fire Spin. The grunts immediately identified who the trainer was thanks to the signature Motor cycle helmet. They tried to make a run for it but it was clearly too late. Their screams echoed through the city as fire burnt their skin.

"You okay, Frederick?" Adam scouted the area. There were still quite a few Rocket grunts left.

"Y-yea", Frederick replied weakly. "We will win, won't we, Adam?", Frederick asked him. Adam could see that it took Frederick every ounce of his energy to just ask that question. Adam was far from sure but he knew he couldn't let Frederick or any of his subordinates see him being unsure.

"Of course." Adam replied before riding off on Arcanine.

From atop one of the buildings, Karen smirked as she observed what was going on. The rain had muddied up the roads. Several buildings had collapsed in the fighting. Many of the wounded Vengeance members had been forced to retreat into the Houndoom's Lair. Apart from a few squads, most of the regular Vengeance members were not being able to keep up with the newly enhanced Pokémon that Team Rocket now had their disposal. Karen could see Adam dashing ahead on his Arcanine. Adam in full flight was certainly a sight and Karen had already seen Adam in battle a few times by then. She knew that taking him out would morally crush the rest of Vengeance members.

"I suppose I should join the party", Karen chuckled

SC

The Mamoswine and Golem charged at Mewtwo. Golem came in with Rollout, charging Mewtwo as fast as it could. Mamoswine was positioned behind it, ready to attack as soon as Golem hit.

"_ICE BEAM_!"

Golem was frozen in its path. One of the perks of battling Team Rocket's Pokémon was that they had been, in the process of making them incredibly overpowered, made to lose their minds in a bad way. They did not think. They only acted.

"_Aura Sphere_!"

An orb of bluish silver energy crashed into the frozen Golem, shattering its frozen body into several pieces. Blood splattered over the battlefield, some of it landing on Ash's face.

"A Pokémon's blood on my face. Wow.", Ash thought. His mind still hurt whenever he saw Pokémon hurt.

Had the Mamoswine not lost its mind, it would have been probably been intimidated and tried to retreat but its mind was not something the Mamoswine still had.

"_Disable_!"

Mamoswine was immobile. Mewtwo teleported right in front of it.

"_Fire Blast!"_

The blast of fire engulfed Mamoswine but also caught the Rocket Grunts behind it. Ash shuddered as their screams pierced his ears. He was surprised to see that Nita was perfectly normal. He recalled everything he had heard about how cold the Vengeance could be towards Team Rocket.

SC

Adam came to halt. A woman was blocking the road. She was not wearing a Team Rocket uniform. She had long, blue hair and wore a yellow tank top.

"Who are you? What are you doing in the middle of a warzone?", Adam asked, wondering what a civilian was doing in Pewter of all places. Pewter did not have a civilian population. For years now, the only people here were either Rocket grunts or prisoners.

"Nice to meet you, Adam the Avenger", the woman said somewhat sensuously. "Nice to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you", she said, slowly walking up to Adam.

Adam wasn't sure how to react. Of all things, he had not expected a woman to show up in the middle of a warzone and , by the looks of it, start flirting with him. But she looked familiar. _Where had he seen her?_

The woman was now standing next to him. She petted Arcanine. The fire type had been growling at her but seemed to ease up when she started petting him.

"Listen, I don't know who you are or what it is that you want but it isn't safe here", Adam told her, still trying to remember just where he had seen her.

"Arcanine, jump!", Adam shouted suddenly. The fire type jerked away, jumping a few feet away from where it had been standing.

"You're one of the deserters! Karen!", it all came back to Adam. This was Karen, one of the Elite Four members who had betrayed Lance. She had been instrumental in helping Team Rocket claim the Indigo Plateau.

"Ah you finally recognized me", Karen said , sounding relieved. "I was a little offended. I thought was fairly famous".

Before Karen could properly finish her sentence, she saw a green blur speeding towards her. She had anticipated this. A Honchkrow dove in towards the approaching Pokémon. Scyther and Honchkrow collided and it was clear that Scyther had been on the receiving end of more damage, since the mantis Pokémon fell back quite a few steps. Honchkrow, though, stood still.

Adam noticed that the Honckrow's eyes were normal and not, as he had thought they would be, bloodshot. _"Just like ",_ Adam thought back to facing earlier and how he himself had not used any enhancements on his Pokémon.

"Why is it that you higher ups don't enhance your Pokémon like the grunts do? Is there some morality left in you?", Adam asked her. Karen had noticed just how mechanical Adam's voice was and she didn't quite like it. Not being able to see his face made her uneasy too.

"None of your business now, is it?" she asked back in her characteristic sultry tone.

"Blastoise!", Karen threw a Pokeball forward. "Blastoise should keep your Arcanine from interfering. Now, Honchkrow, Wing Attack!"

Honchkrow flexed its wings and charged towards Scyther like a bullet.

"Sword Dance!", Adam ordered Scyther. The mantis Pokémon held its ground and began to glow.

"_Raising the chances of hitting a critical blow_?", Karen thought. "_As if you'll hit_."

Honchkrow got within in touching distance of Scyther when Adam shocked Karen.  
"AERIAL ACE"

Scyther's attack landed head on, given Aerial Ace was a sure-to-hit move, and left Honchkrow lying on the ground.

"Wing Attack would have been super effective on your Scyther. Did you gamble everything on Aerial Ace having a critical hit?", Karen asked Adam, surprised at his unconventional battling style. Adam did not reply.

Karen's Blastoise walked up to take a battle position. "Water Pulse!'.

The water attack was much more than what Scyther could handle and it fainted almost instantly.

"Go ahead. I have faith in you", Adam seemed to whisper to a Pokeball before throwing it forward. A Raichu emerged from it, looking around the battlefield, before focusing in on Blastoise.

"Hey is tha-", Karen was shocked. " Surge's Raichu, yes", Adam interrupted her.

"Heh", Karen smirked. "Blastoise, Skull Bash!"

SC

Ash and Nita arrived at the edge of the town. The rain had somewhat subsided and Ash found the hostages he had rescued earlier. Seeing the two arriving, Luke ran over to them.

Nita hugged Luke as he ran over to her, almost suffocating the boy. "Cut it out, sis!", he protested. Breaking the hug, Nita looked over to Ash. "Thank you so much", she urged a smile through her fatigue.

"Don't mention it. We're in it together after all", Ash said, trying to sound cool. He was still bad at reacting to compliments.

"Ash?", a voice caught Ash's attention. Ash knew this voice. It was Silver. Ash felt slightly relieved that Silver was alright although he hadn't really doubted Silver's ability to survive through the chaos.

"The others told me you wiped out their retreat base in the forest. Good job. But you have to help out in the city. The odds aren't very good", Silver said with his characteristic stern face. Ash thought Silver looked uncomfortable.

"I figured we would be outnumbered", Ash replied. "So I took the liberty of doing something I haven't done in a few years".

"And that is?", Silver asked.

Before Ash could reply, the sound of wings caught their attention. The group looked up into the sky to two Dragonite, an Aerodectyl and a Charizard approaching. They were following by a Fearow and a Flygon. All of the Pokémon had multiple trainers on their backs.

"Is that Lance?!", Silver was shocked to see the trainer on the back of one of the Dragonite. "Ash, did you contact the Rebellion?"

"Yes", Ash replied with a cheeky smile on his face.

SC

Blaine was sweating. He had made short work of most of the grunts that came his way. Even with the enhanced Pokémon, they were still idiots. Most grunts were just former criminals who had joined Team Rocket in groups and former criminals that didn't know a thing about battling. But no matter how bad they were, the fact that they kept coming in droves was proving to be a problem. Blaine's Pokémon were starting to get tired and he wasn't sure just how long he could keep going. He was expecting Adam to come rushing in on his Arcanine as he always did but he wasn't anywhere in sight.

Suddenly a man in a blue sweatshirt and black pants walked up to Blaine. "What's cookin', gramps?", the man asked him. He had a very nasal voice. Blaine looked around to see who exactly this person was.

"Gary?", Blaine was surprised. "What are you doing here ? Aren't you with the Rebellion?"

"Yes I am", Gary said as he threw his Pokeballs forward.

"But where did you come from? Are the other Rebellion members here too?"

"Yep"

"But why? We've never worked together before"

"Yes we haven't but I am pretty sure it'd be stupid for us to have ideological disagreements right now. We can talk after we've kicked some Rocket butt".

"Yes. Good to see you again", Blaine said, as he refocused on the battle.

Across the battlefield, Lance, Lorelei, Agatha, Bruno, Janine and several of their sub-ordinates joined in the fight, aiding the Vengeance members. Most of the Vengeance members were shocked. The Rebellion and The Vengeance had never had direct contact before but it had been assumed by both groups that co-operation would not work out. The fact that they were fighting side by side was a surprise for both. But it was clear that would have to work together if they wanted to win this fight.

SC

Raichu's Iron Tail came crashing down Blastoise' shell. The Water type did not budge, it started spinning furiously.

"Rapid Spin", Adam muttered.

Raichu had to jump to dodge the impact of the attack. But it started charging electricity again, sprinting on all fours towards Blastoise.

The sound of explosions rang in Adam's ears. He knew the situation was getting out of hand. He needed to deal with Karen quickly and check up on the others. He didn't know what Ash Ketchum was doing or what Blaine was doing but he could tell whatever they were doing wasn't enough. If this kept up, they would fail.

If he failed, Erika would be upset. He knew she was looking over him, praying for his victory. He could not fail her.

"RAICHU!", Adam's voice had lost its mechanic tone. For once, it had emotion. Karen was surprised, Arcanine was surprised, Raichu was surprised. But Raichu seemed to adjust to it quickly. "For all the crimes that bastard made you commit and for all of your fellow Pokémon that they are torturing, give this your all! VOLT TACKLE!"

Raichu's body was a big ball of electricity as it crashed into Blastoise. The electric attack seemed to shake the water type to the core and it gave a muffled groan as it collapsed. The attack had been a bit too much. The water type's eyes seemed slowly fade out. Adam looked up from Blastoise to see Karen running. She had dropped the high heels she had been wearing.

Adam did not need to say anything. Arcanine sprang forward and hurled spiral flames at her. Adam was already trying to determine which zone he would have to target next and his mind was too occupied for him to hear her screams.

Adam had not gone far when he saw a Dragonite flying towards him. For whatever reason, it didn't seem to have any malicious intent. Adam recognized the man who jumped down from the Dragonite and walked towards him. The spiky red hair, the attire symbolic of the Dragon Tamers of Blackthorn, these were all things had people long come to associate with Lance, the Dragon Master.

"Adam, leader of the Vengeance. It is nice to meet you", Lance said, as he extended his hands towards Adam.

"Likewise, Lance. May I ask why you're here though?", Adam accepted the handshake

"Ash Ketchum contacted me with the details of the situation. We wanted to capitalize on it. Team Rocket moved all of their forces into Pewter, which left Viridian and Pallet almost Rocket free. We took this chance to wipe out the Rockets in the area and move into Pewter to assist you. We have worked with your men to defeat the Rockets in the rest of city. Only their Squad leader remains. I believe it's one of the deserters, Karen", Lance narrated.

"I've taken care of her", Adam replied in his characteristic tone. Lance knew what Adam the Avenger meant when he said 'he had taken care of her'. Every grunt the Rebellion had worked with, they had taken hostage. He knew that the Vengeance did not work that way though.

"If that is the case, then every stretch of land, from Pallet Town, across the grasslands to Viridian City, through trees of Viridian Forrest and the nearby Indigo Plateau to the city of Pewter is now free", Lance said in a cheerful tone.

"All of it's free?", Adam just realized what this meant.

"Yes.", Lance replied. "Three Cities have been freed in one instant. I guess the fact that we , the Rebellion, the Vengeance and Ash weren't working together was one of the reasons Team Rocket has not been defeated like this before".

Just as Lance finished, Ash arrived, jumping down from Charizard. Nita was leaning on his shoulder. Silver came with them. From different corners, the remaining Vengeances members, including the ones Ash had rescued, arrived at where Adam and Lance had been talking. The Rebellion members came with them. By the way some of the members of the Rebellion and the Vengeance were talking; Adam could tell they were getting on well.

When Ash heard Lance's report, he almost exploded. "This where we start building a New Kanto!", he almost jumped in joy but controlled himself when he realized Nita was leaning on him. He seemed to blush a little.

Silver remained quiet. He knew he hadn't been able to contribute too much to the fight but he was relieved it ended the way it did. It meant Team Rocket was that much closer to being wiped out.

Everyone looked exhausted but everyone also looked happy.

"Yes, Ash. We can build a new Kanto from here. I think that's what we should call it. 'New Kanto'", Lance declared.

The Team Rocket squad positioned in Mount Moon was ordered to retreat. Leaf had mixed emotions when she heard that the operation had failed. It meant Ash and the others were winning. But it also means that the likelihood of having to go up against them was also increasing. Leaf's heart sank at the thought.

SC

"Mom! Mom! They've freed three cities! They freed three cities!", a young boy shouted as he ran towards his mother.

"Quiet, Nathan!", his mother, who was standing at the door of their house, was worried. "They might hear you!"

"I don't care!", Nathan was louder this time.

It was past 10 pm and the streets were littered with Rockets on patrol. If any of them were nearby their house, they could easily hear what Nathan was saying.

"Hey brat", a rough male voice called out to Nathan. The boy looked around to see a Rocket grunt walking towards him. "I heard that", the grunt sneered.

Nathan's mother felt like she was going to collapse.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Well, I'm back. I gave myself some time to work on this chapter since it marks the start of the second story arc. Plus the past week or so has been really hectic for me and my partner so I took it slow. What I have planned is much bigger than the first arc, which lasted five chapters. This arc should last somewhere between ten to fifteen chapters. Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, followed etc._

_And a round of thanks to certain prominent fan-fiction writers who read/reviewed this story. It honestly means a lot to have your hero read your work. _

_Hopefully, Redemption won't let you down. Make sure to review and spread the word if you enjoy the story!_

_A few recurring questions:_

_Grammar and Typos: I am aware of the fact that the first three chapters have a fair bit of typos. It's mostly because I am incredibly bad at proof reading. But I promise you, I am trying. Hopefully the coming chapters will have no or at least less mistakes_

_Ash's Lucario : Yes, Ash doesn't have a Lucario/Riolu in the anime. It's something I took the liberty of adding. You will get the backstory about Lucario soon. In fact, in this very chapter._

Chapter Six

**The Unified Army of New Kanto**

Just a few hours after the fight, Ash had started to get impatient. He had been waiting for a long time to return to Pallet Town and now he finally had the chance. Of course, it didn't work out like he would've preferred. He was exhausted from the fighting like everyone else and almost collapsed the moment he had tried to leave for reluctantly agreed to rest when Silver suggested, in a tone that more resembled a order, that he rest.

The initial euphoria surrounding the victory had quickly faded once the survivors were done gathering the bodies. The Rebellion had hardly had any casualties. But the Vengeance had encountered heavy losses. Nearly thirty of their fifty odd members lay scattered on the ground. Adam quietly walked up to every last body. The others watched as he crouched down, as if to talk to the bodies.

Nita kept telling her brother, Luke, to stay strong. But inside she herself felt guilty. She had been selfish, begging Ash to help her save her brother. May be if she hadn't been so self-centred, Ash would have been able to save others. Adam had told her on the day she first met him that difficult decisions were going to be a large part of the life that awaited her. When she had joined the Vengeance along with her brother, what drove her most was the sheer hate she felt for Team Rocket. She wanted to join the war against Team Rocket and she wanted to win it. She hadn't really thought of just what the war could entail.

Adam did his best to keep his calm composure intact. He had long accepted that death would be an everyday thing in a war to overthrow an organization as established and big as Team Rocket. Even then, every fallen comrade stung. They would have to die, he knew. He also knew they were happy to die. But he knew the sort of unflinching faith they had in him and his abilities and that always made him uncomfortable. He had failed them. _Many times_. It wasn't until Ash Ketchum brought the Powerplant down that they managed to carry out a successful large scale operation. And it wasn't until Lance and the Rebellion showed up that they managed to defend Pewter against Team Rocket. May be he wasn't cut out to be a leader to begin with.

Adam didn't notice someone had come up to him. It was the red haired boy, that friend of Ash's. Adam couldn't remember his name.

"You can't start having doubts about yourself now", he said very nonchalantly.

Adam did not reply. He was just stunned that the boy had been able to pick up what Adam was thinking.

"I don't know too much about your men. But I know that Vengeance members are people who personally lost something. They weren't fighting for ideals. They were fighting for revenge. They will have no regrets", Silver almost whispered to Adam. "This war needs you. You need to continue being Adam the Avenger. You can't have doubts about yourself", he added before walking away.

Adam did not say anything this time either.

SC

When Ash was about to leave for Pallet, following a full night's sleep, he wasn't surprised that Gary wanted to come with him. He was, however, surprised when Silver declared he was coming too.

The streets of Pallet Town seemed familiar and alien at the same time. It had been more than five years since Ash had been able to return to his hometown. The scenery hadn't changed too much. But like most cities, Rocket check posts were common, as was the "R" logo. Since the fight in Pewter City, the people had been busy ridding their town of anything that had to do with Team Rocket.

Most of the citizens were outside their houses. They weren't sure what they should do. Most of them had been eagerly waiting for Team Rocket to get kicked out but now that it had happened, it seemed too good to be true. When an elderly man spotted Ash and the group, he ran up to them.

"Ash? Gary? My boys, you two are okay! Thank heavens!" the man shouted at the top of his voice.

Ash knew the man's face; he had seen him around town before.

"Is it true that Team Rocket has been driven out of these parts? Really?" the man asked them, anxiety clearly visible on his face.

"Yeah, we kicked their butts alright!" Ash declared proudly. Even though he seemed to be celebrating, his mind was elsewhere.

Gary split from the group as he headed for Professor Oak's lab. Ash told him he would go there too, after he had checked out his house. Ash knew his mother was gone. He knew there would be nothing left of her. Yet he hoped that his house was alright. He didn't know what exactly he would do with the house but he just wanted that last bit of his past life to remain intact.

Despite how long it had been since he had last been here, Ash remembered the directions. Silver did not say anything during the duration of their journey, only silently nodding whenever Ash mentioned anything.

As Ash reached his neighbourhood, his heart began to flutter. From the distance, he could see the outline of his house; the little blue house with the red roof. It was there, alright. May be his mother was inside. May be the news of his mother's death was a rumour. After all, rumours spread like wildfire during a war. Team Rocket wanted him after all. They didn't have anything to do with his mom.

But as he neared the house, the brief moment of optimism he had felt started to fade. The house looked abandoned. The shrubs in the yard were overgrown, the paint on the fence had worn off a long time ago and nobody had repainted it in years.

Silver kicked the door open after Ash's attempts to work the rusty door knob failed. The house smelt of Spinarak webs and they both started to cough. The lights weren't working. Luckily, Pikachu's Flash solved the lighting problems. What Ash saw then stunned him. The house was empty. _Completely empty_. Somebody had removed all the furniture, from the sofas to the dining table and even the carpets.

"Ashy?", an aged female voice called out Ash's name. Ash knew this voice. It sounded familiar. There was a woman standing at the door. She looked familiar, too. But he couldn't quite place who it was.

The woman almost ran up to Ash and wrapped him in a hug. Her large frame suffocated Ash but he remembered the hug.

"Hey, Marjorie", Ash said, releasing himself from her tight embrace.

Marjorie was an old lady now, having crossed her fiftieth birthday. She had been Ash's neighbour for as long as he could remember. Back when he was little, she would often babysit Ash whenever his mom went out.

"Oh thank heavens you're alright. Come to my house. You'll get allergies if you stay here for too long", she said as she walked over to the door.

Back when he was young, the walls of Marjorie's house had been blue. Now they were white. Her old record player wasn't in the living room. It had been in the corner of the kitchen because Marjorie enjoyed listening to music as she cooked. Each tiny change pained Ash. He knew the location of her record player wasn't a big deal. But even then, every change was a move away from his old life.

Marjorie offered Ash and Silver hot Chocolate. For Silver, this was the first time in a long, long time he had had the luxury so he couldn't help to resist. In fact, he didn't remember when, if ever, someone had pampered him with small pleasures like this. He noticed that Ash wasn't drinking but the drink smelt a bit too good. He decided he had to indulge.

"Your house was ransacked", Marjorie said as she joined Ash and Silver at the coffee table. "A few days after the day of-,I mean, um, the incident, burglars came by and took everything", she couldn't bear to look Ash in the eye as she said this. She thought Ash would be angry at her for letting the burglars do it so she spoke up again even before he could reply. "I tried to stop them, trust me. But I couldn't manage", her voice seemed to trail off towards the end.

"It's ok, Marjorie", Ash tried to console her. He hadn't realized up to that point just how much it would pain him to return to his house. Perhaps it had been a bad idea all along.

"Oh Ash!", Marjorie seemed to suddenly remember something.

"Yes?" , he replied, looking into his mug.

"I have something for you.", Marjorie walked inside and came back with a small envelope. It was sealed with a stapler pin. The envelope looked old.

"This", Marjorie's voice seemed to shake, "is from your mom"

"W-what?", Ash couldn't realize what she meant. Silver too, was shocked. _A letter? From Ash's mom?_

"I don't know. She rushed to my house on that day and told me to give this to you if I ever saw you again. This was right before-", Marjorie broke down in tears before she could finish the sentence.

Ash knew he had to console her but the letter had rattled his mind too much for him to do anything apart from reading it. Ash took the envelope from her. His heart was threatening to burst out of his chest. As he opened the envelope and pulled out the letter, he knew it was his mother right away. He knew her handwriting; the way she wrote the letters "s" and "A". His heart almost stopped.

"_Dear Ash,_

_I heard Team Rocket have taken over the town. Old man Shouka came by a bit earlier. He was panicking. He said they were looking for me. They killed the people who wouldn't answer. I trust the people of Pallet but human life is valuable. I do not expect them to protect my whereabouts in return for their life. And I realize I should have taken your advice and worked on teaching Mimey how to use Teleport. But I don't have time for regrets._

_Listen, Ash. I am proud. I am incredibly proud of you. I have no regrets about being killed because I am the mother of the one trainer an entire mafia organization is scared of. When you left Pallet with Pikachu, it was the saddest and yet most exciting day of my life. I knew you were destined for great things, son. And you did it. You did everything you dreamt of and more. _

_I am sorry for everything I couldn't give you, Ash. After your dad abandoned us, it was difficult to pay all the bills. I am sorry that I couldn't buy you all the toys that Gary had. I am sorry that I couldn't get you big Christmas presents. I am sorry your classmates bullied you because you wore oversized sneakers to school because I couldn't get you new ones after your old ones tore. But I am so proud that you fought through all of that and became the nation's Champion, son. I know you can do anything you set your heart on. The Riolu egg I got you from Sinnoh is the only real gift I ever got you. And that too, I could only buy with your money. But still, please remember me through the Pokémon that hatched from it. _

_It is not your fault. It is not your fault at all. I am so proud of you for stopping Team Rocket all the times you did. You did everything I failed to do. You became a hero time and time again. Listen to me, Ash. If you hadn't done those things, if you hadn't fought for justice when you saw crimes committed in front of you, only then would I blame you, son. You fought for what you knew was right. It means I did my job as a mother. I raised a young man who knows right from wrong and doesn't hesitate to fight for what he believes in. So never, ever think it's your fault. I love you, Ash. I will always be with you. Every time you fight back against them, and I know you will fight them for as long as you can, know that I am with you. I couldn't have hoped for a better son._

_I love you, son._

_I don't know what the coming days will be like but please, do try to change your underwear every single day._

_Your loving mother,_

_Delia Ketchum"_

When Ash finished reading the letter, he didn't notice the tears streaming down his eyes. Pikachu couldn't read but it had spent enough time with Ash to know what was going on. It climbed onto Ash's lap and hugged him. It was the most it could do. Silver tried to take the letter from Ash and read it himself but Ash pulled away.

"We-we should get going", Ash got up from the chair.

"Wait, Ash. I have something else", Marjorie said, handing him a photo-frame. "This was the only thing I could get the betters to let me keep".

It was a picture of Ash, Misty and Brock outside Professor Oak's ranch. It was taken right before Ash left for the Indigo Plateau for the first time. He couldn't remember how many years it had been since then.

Silver couldn't figure out what to say. He realized he didn't know much or anything at all about comforting people. He knew how Adam had been feeling because he himself knew what it felt like to doubt oneself. He didn't know how Ash was feeling. He had never really had friends or family to care about. He couldn't tell what it would feel like to lose them. Was Ash a friend? _Probably. _When talking to Adam for the first time, Ash had introduced him as his friend. Would it hurt to lose Ash? Yes. That would mean defeating Team Rocket was going to be more difficult. But would it hurt for more reasons? Would he miss having Ash around? Silver realized he probably would.

As the two left Marjorie's house, Ash remembered he had to go see Gary at Professor Oak's ranch. Just then, another thought him. The Pokémon he had with him now were the Pokémon he had with him on the day of the invasion. What about the other Pokémon he had left at Professor Oak's? Were they alright?

The ranch didn't look like it had been abandoned. Going inside, Ash saw Gary sitting on the couch with Tracey. His old friend looked distraught and sick. It reminded him of how Bill had been the night he and Silver went to rescue him.

"A-Ash", Tracey said weakly. His voice was weak. His eyes had sunken in.

"Tracy! What happened to you?" Inside, Ash could sort of figure out what had happened.

"After they took the Professor, they forced me to research on some of their projects. They kept me under close surveillance. It wasn't until Lance and his men came around yesterday that I could stop working", his eyes were locked on the floor. If Ash didn't know better, Tracey looked _broken._

"T-they made me do horrible things. I wanted to stop. I tried poisoning myself but they'd stop me each time", Tracy said, looking at nobody in particular.

Tracy's words were eerily similar to everything Bill had said. It gave both Ash and Silver a very uncomfortable feeling of deja vu.

"They said they'd fit sensors inside my body if I didn't co-operate. I got scared. I did what they wanted", Tracy's voice was heavy with guilt.

For a second, Silver wanted to ask just what they had made him do. But he realized it probably wouldn't help to make him go through all those things again. Ash sat down next to Tracy and wrapped him in a hug. Tracy broke down the moment Ash embraced him.

"They took all your Pokémon, Ash", Tracy said, shaking in Ash's embrace. Ash felt his insides churn at the revelation but he fought it and kept a stern face for Tracey's sake.

"It's alright, Tracey. None of this is your fault", Ash patted him on the back.

This seemed to cheer Tracy up, even if very slightly, and he stopped sobbing.

SC

The body count kept rising every time someone lifted up a portion of a wall that had collapsed or moved the rubble out of the way. The sense of achievement that everyone had had after the victory had well and truly faded away. What was left was a sense of emptiness. They had freed Pallet, Viridian, Indigo Plateau and Pewter. But what now?

"If only you lot had been faster", a Vengeance member said to the Rebellion soldier he was cleaning the rubble with.

"Excuse me? You're lucky we even came in the first place", The Rebellion soldier shot back at him. "Otherwise you'd all be dead"

"Dead? Not under Adam's watch", the Vengeance member retaliated. He had stopped clearing the mess and was now focusing completely on the Rebellion member in front of him.

"Explain all the bodies then! You're lucky Lance arrived to save your asses!"

"If it wasn't for us, none of this would've happened in the first place. You'd still be hiding up in the Seafoam Islands"

Before long, punches flew from both directions. The fight that had started between just the two of them spread among the other Vengeance/Rebellion members in the area.

The ruckus drew Adam's attention and he quickly came over to see what was going on. What he saw stunned him. He realized then that working together would be more difficult than he had assumed.

SC

The Team Rocket HQ in Saffron was a cold place. Before the invasion, it had been the HQ of Silph Co, one of the biggest multinational companies in the world. Back then, the building had a more cheery interior. Since the invasion, the building had been remodelled and James thought that the building felt, for lack of better word, _depressing._

He was a Class 2 employee. He had access to the lower floors and his ID could get him as far the as the 7th floor. The 8th floor and beyond were reserved for Class 1 employees, such as Jessie and Giovanni's inner circle.

Working as a double agent for Ash, James had come under suspicion several times. But he had managed to shake them off each time and maintain his position. He knew that if he got caught, he would end up being executed in a bad way. He didn't quite know how Team Rocket dealt with traitors but he was sure it wouldn't be nice. The thought seemed ironic to him. Much of Team Rocket was filled with traitors. Trainers who betrayed their conscience and their positions and joined Team Rocket were warmly welcomed. It's funny that you would be called a traitor for betraying a lot of traitors.

But the world was a funny place. James was lined up with the other Class 2 employees on the 7th floor. Admin Cyrus had ordered them to assemble there after lunch. Cyrus was a strange man. He had previously had his own criminal ring in the Sinnoh region but after it fell, reportedly because of the meddling of a certain trainer from Kanto, Cyrus had gone missing. He resurfaced a few months after Team Rocket's invasion, sitting next to Geovanni in a meeting for Team Rocket's elite members. Nobody could question why he was there. Nobody questioned Geovanni's decisions.

Cyrus never said much. He spoke in short sentences and preferred to reply to several questions with just one answer. As he came into the room, James noticed how dead his eyes looked. Was this man even alive?

"Listen now. Geovanni is angry. But we have a back–up plan", Cyrus said as two grunts brought a girl into the room. Her hands and legs were tied and her mouth was gagged. She had purple hair and James instantly recognized who she was.

"This is Janine. Former gym leader. Member of the Rebllion. She will be our bargaining tool. We'll keep her in Vermillion and use her to lure the main players out. Read this report for the next phase of our plan".

SC

The arguments had subsided to a degree. But there was a new problem. Nobody could find Janine. There were two possibilities and neither of them were very nice. One, she could have died. If so, where was her body? Two, she got injured and while fleeing, the few surviving Rocket members had managed to take her with them. Death wasn't nice but, as everyone started to theorize about exactly what might have happened to her, they realized that dying would probably have been better than being taken hostage by the Rockets.

Lance had gone to Seafoam to fetch Articuno. The legendary ice type had protected them for as long as they were in Seafoam Islands but now, Lance hoped Articuno would also help them elsewhere. To the east ofMount Moon lay Cerulean, a city that was still Rocket territory. To the west lay Pewter and New Kanto. For New Kanto's protection, controlling Mount Moon was important. Articuno could probably handle that.

As twilight neared, everyone came to the conclusion that the search for bodies was finished. There was just nowhere else to look. Janine was declared missing. The Rocket grunts that the Rebellion had captured in Pallet and Viridian were kept in the Houndoom's Lair. Many of the buildings had been converted to makeshift living quarters. There weren't many beds around but it was better than some of the dirty and confined secret bases many of the rebels were used to.

Ash, Gary and Silver arrived looking exhausted. It was not the sort of face people would wear after revisiting their hometown after so many years. But Ash and Gary looked devastated. Silver wasn't doing as bad as they were but he tried his best to sympathize with the two.

At around midnight, the wind began to get chilly. It only snowed for about two weeks in Pewter, near and about Christmas time. This was not Christmas time. Everyone came out of their rooms, confused about what was going on. In the starry night sky, they watched in awe as a large, blue bird came flying towards Pewter.

"So Lance managed to convince Articuno!", Blaine exclaimed.

Lance jumped off as Articuno came near the ground. The legendary bird then proceeded towards Mount Moon. The further it got from the city, the more the cold started to fade.

Ash was happy to see almost everyone assembled there and he seized the opportunity.

"Everyone! I have something to say!" he shouted at the top of his voice. He didn't have a microphone or anything but his voice clearly reached everyone.

"I heard about the fighting that broke out this morning. I know many of us are strangers and we have many differences. Working together is a matter of compromise and it will take time before we can really get the hang of working together", he continued. The apparent wisdom in Ash's voice came as a pleasant surprise to Silver. He had always noticed how Ash could go from clueless idiot to mature, sensible leader in an instant. It was a very interesting feature of Ash's character.

"But above all our differences, we have something very big in common. We all want freedom. We hate living under Team Rocket's shadow. Adam and Lance are both great men and they have the power to uproot Team Rocket. But they can't do it alone. We are outnumbered, and don't have the same resources in many ways. We don't have any of the scientists Team Rocket has. We only really have each other and our trusted Pokémon. So please, it doesn't matter who came from the Vengeance or who came from the Rebellion. Let's work together!" Ash's voice started to sound more like a plea.

Ash didn't notice both Adam and Lance walking towards him. They stood on both sides of him, as if to give their silent approval of everything Ash had said.

"From today, the Vengeance is no more", Adam suddenly declared. He then looked towards Lance. The dragontamer picked up what Adam was trying to convey. "And neither is the Rebellion", Lance added.

The members of both organizations were slightly in shock. But they could tell something big was about to happen.

"I am not good at naming things", Ash said, breaking the silence. "But, from today onwards we'll be known as the Unified Army of New Kanto!"

"U.A.N.K?", one of the members assembled shouted out to Ash,

"That sounds like 'wank',Ash", Lance said, shaking his head.

For the first time in a long time, everyone, from the Vengeance, to the Rebellion, to the former inmates of the Houndoom's Lair who had helped them to retrieve the bodies, to Adam, to Lance, to Ash and Silver, laughed.

They laughed for quite a while.


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: I'm back again._

_Let me begin by saying how flattered I am to see how the story has started to grow. I never thought this story would get this far. But now that it has, I'll stick to it. I have the ending planned and the story should last somewhere between 25 and 30 chapters. Let's see what the future brings._

_A few things that have come up in the reviews:_

_Typos: I am working on them. The last chapter and this one do not have any typos, I believe. And I have started to revise the earlier chapters so they'll be fixed soon. I am a bad proof reader and I get impatient about posting as soon as I am done writing. Bear with me._

_The Role of Johto/How James Saw the Light/Silver's Back Story: I honestly wanted to reveal these things bit by bit and that's how it'll go. Why give all the good stuff away so soon?_

_Shift in POVs : This is something I can't really help. I get bored if I dabble around in one place for too long, which is why I bring in several POVs during my narration of a chapter. I'll try to tone it down but I don't think it'll ever totally go away._

_Once again, a big thank you to my wonderful girlfriend, Lady Aweshumnesh, for all she does for me; from supporting me to being by only Beta-Reader. This story would never take off if it wasn't for her. Forget the story, I wouldn't get out of bed and do anything if it wasn't for her._

_That'll be all for now. Please read, review and share if you like the story. Reviews help. Reviews are great. God bless reviews!_

**Chapter 7**

**Trust and Betrayal (part1)**

"You messed up again, Silver", Ash smirked.

"I'm trying", Silver replied sternly. The training had made it clear that Silver, despite all his cool composure, lagged behind Ash in the training department. They had been working with Nita and Luke to develop a combo attack of their own. The Combo was a Vengeance specialty but after the teams merged, it was decided that every two man squad should have its own Combo attack.

The fact that Ash and Silver would be in the same squad wasn't much of a surprise for anyone. Squads were set up in a way that members complimented each other's skills. Ash's usually brilliant battling skills were undermined by his general lack of patience and foresight, things that Silver had in abundance.

By this point Silver had started to enjoy Ash's company. For him it was strange. He didn't remember ever enjoying someone's company. But then again he didn't remember anyone's company to begin with. But Ash could also be incredibly annoying.

"Not so much of a tough guy, eh?" Ash playfully taunted Silver as the red haired boy tried to get Houndoom's fire spinning like a whirlpool.

"Oh cut it", Silver shot back, gritting his teeth.

The idea was for Pikachu's electricity to encircle Houndoom's fire attack and create a spiral of Thunder and Fire. But it turned out Silver and his Pokémon weren't so flexible.

"I'm calling it a day", an annoyed Silver spat out before walking away from the training ground.

"OI!", Ash called out after him.

Life in New Kanto wasn't being as rosy as everyone had imagined it to be. There was a food shortage after a week. People started working on food production soon but there wasn't any real organization. The government had cut off the area's electric supply, leaving the rebels to rely on electric Pokémon for power. While Pallet was a small town and Pewter was little more than a ghetto now, Viridian was a large, bustling city and the few electric Pokémon available could hardly generate the power necessary to keep everything running.

Ash's speech about co-operation had made things a bit easier though. The Vengeance and Rebellion members more or less got over their differences and started working together. Although there were still some arguments about whom among Adam and Lance was the better trainer, the arguments were harmless and not spiteful like earlier. The several hundred inmates of the Houndoom's Lair had joined up and started working with them too. The increase in man power definitely helped but life wasn't anywhere near comfortable.

Some of the rebels wondered just how long it would take to completely defeat Team Rocket and get everything back to how it used to be. For many of them, the life they once had seemed like a very recent memory. The fact that it had been more than five years wasn't on their mind.

Janine's absence was something they were trying not too hard to think about. If the Rockets had taken her, and in all likelihood they had, she could literally be anywhere. The battle from earlier on had left them rattled. It would be a while before they were stable enough to consider operations again. For now, they didn't have much choice other than not thinking about it too much.

Adam was happy with the attitude the people in New Kanto now had. They were struggling but they were doing it with quite a bit of enthusiasm. He knew most of it was down to the childish enthusiasm that Ash had managed to stir inside in all of them. He preferred the people retain that enthusiasm rather than get bogged down by the relentless self-doubt that he himself had. Lance was another character. He did not say much. But just watching him stand there seemed to inspire most of the rebels. Adam knew Ash and Lance were more cut out for the leadership mantle than he was. He liked it that way. The new alliance meant that he wasn't solely responsible for decisions. He hated being responsible for decisions.

The Houndoom's Lair had been turned into the Alliance's Headquarters. Large rows of dinner tables lined the main hall. It was Blaine's idea to have dinner together. Apparently it would help bring the rebels together. A large part of whatever food New Kanto could produce was sent to the Rebels. The people believed in them and wanted them to be well fed. The food came with its own sense of guilt. But the rebels knew they had to eat it. They had to be ready to fight against Team Rocket if they attacked. It was the reason the citizens had asked them have the food in the first place. The people would rather starve than be chained up.

Suddenly the lights flickered on. Had Team Rocket restored the electricity?

"What's going on here?", Blaine asked Nita, who was sitting next to him . "No clue", the red haired girl replied. She was as perplexed as he was.

There was a small TV in the main hall. It was the specially designed Messenger TVs Team Rocket had sent to all the houses after the invasion. They were devices uses by Team Rocket to broadcast Geovanni's public speeches. They turned off and on by themselves whenever it was time for a speech.

The TV came on and everyone saw Geovanni staring at them from the TV Screen.

"Greetings, Rebels. We have temporarily restored the electricity in your area so I can give you this message. I know you are all a stubborn lot; which is why I am prepared to bargain with you".

A picture of Janine, gagged and bound to a chair, appeared on the screen.

"We have your comrade here", Geovanni continued. Many of the troops who had come from the Rebellion jumped up from their chair at the sight of Janine. "You may or may not get her back alive. If you want to get her back alive, I want Adam the Avenger and Ask Ketchum to come meet a special delegation of my Admins in Cerulean in five days' time. They will not be attacked on the way and we will treat them with full respect. However, they are not allowed to have Pokémon with them. Not even that abomination we created. Trust me, we only want to talk".

The screen turned black.

The main hall erupted. Everyone was on their feet, panicking, cursing at Team Rocket. Adam ran to the centre and loudly cleared his throat. Silver noticed from afar the sort of hypnotic effect that Adam seemed to have on people. While Ash made people feel confident, Adam made them feel calm and reassured.

"I know this is upsetting news. But please remain calm. I am sure we can get her back safe and sound", Adam said, doing his best to maintain his composure. Inside he was confused. He knew that if Janine was not rescued properly, the old cracks between the Vengeance and Rebellion members would begin to reopen. This was going to be their first mission after forming the alliance. For confidence and unity, it was important that the mission was a success. This was a major problem given they didn't even know where Janine was. She could be _anywhere_ in Kanto.

Suddenly, Ash ran up to him.

"I've got something!" he said excitedly.

"What? Information?", Adam replied

"Yes! It's James. Hold on. Tell everyone to be quiet", Ash told Adam.

Exactly how Ash was communicating with James was beyond Adam. In fact, he realized he hadn't ever seen Ash talking to this informant of his. Phones were out of the questions, of course. Team Rocket would tap into that. Nevertheless, Adam asked everyone to be quiet.

What Adam saw next baffled him. Ash pulled out a spoon from his pocket and furrowed his brows as if he was concentration on something. This lasted for about four minutes. "She's in Vermillion", Ash declared.

Everyone settled around the room except for the former Rebellion members were confused.

"How exactly do you know that?" Adam asked Ash, trying his best to cover just how lost he was at what had just happened.

"Oh let me explain", Ash said, holding the spoon up for everyone to see. "These spoons are powered by Mewtwo's E.S.P. They basically work like radios. I used these to contact Lance back during the battle".

Adam took the spoon from Ash and began to examine it. It looked like an ordinary spoon. There wasn't a sign of it being different from any other spoon you could find in a kitchen.

"How come you never told us about these before, Ash?", Silver enquired as he examined the spoons himself. "I don't know, I just forgot I guess", Ash replied with a nervous grin. Ash realized how big of a blunder he had made. How come he forgot something so big?

Silver made a small muffled noise Ash couldn't hear but he could tell his friend was annoyed. "Anyhow", Silver said, not making much of an effort to hide how angry he was. "Get Mewtwo to make more of these spoons. They will help"

"Right away", Ash replied instantly, grateful Silver hadn't let Feraligatr loose on him.

SC

Later that night, they all gathered on the roof. Electricity had been cut off again and the roof was one of the few places where they could get away from the uncomfortable surroundings of Pewter. It wasn't a full moon but the moon was still beautiful and the wind would occasionally pick up, giving them some respite from the stuffy interior of the Houndoom's Lair.

"So according to James, they're keeping Janine in Vermillion. It's the old Pokémon Fan club building", Ash told the others present.

"Why Vermillion? That's really close to us. Why not a place like Saffron?" Lance asked.

"Well James says that a delegation of foreign bureaucrats will be arriving in Kanto in a few days' time. And since Vermillion is Kanto's only sea port, you can tell they'll be there. Apparently they want to talk to the rebels and see if a peace agreement or whatever can be made. Team Rocket want to show Janine off to the foreigners to prove that they are still in control of Kanto.", Ash replied.

"Foreigners?", Adam enquired. His voice seemed different.

"Yes", Ash said.

"What the hell do these people want with us? They sat by and watched as our country got ravaged. They signed commercial deals with Team Rocket. And now they want to mediate this ? Is this some kind of joke?", Adam's voice was rising in pitch as he talked. Adam noticed this himself and forced himself to calm down.

"I suppose", Silver interjected. "That the reason they wanted to 'negotiate' with Adam and Ash in Cerulean", Silver said, stressing on 'negotiate', "is to show the foreigners that they can handle us, basically. Keep us under control".

"Well we can't let them make that statement. Which regions are these people coming from?", Adam asked Ash.

"Embassadors from Hoenn and Sinnoh", Ash replied.

"So the Johtans are still quite? Bunch of cowards.", Adam's fury was pretty evident.

"I don't blame them for prioritizing self-preservation ahead of helping an ally out. That said, they did run out on Kanto after centuries of mutual co-operation.", Lance said, looking into the night sky.

"Well in any case, we need to make a statement", Adam said, his voice was more calm now.

"No", Gary spoke up for the first time. "If we did something during this meeting of their's, it'd help them portray us as terrorists"

"They're terrorists themselves", Ash interrupted. All this planning was beyond him. He just felt like going down to Vermillion and battling every Grunt in sight.

"But they've been around for five years now. Time legitimizes a lot of things. And they've worked well with the other governments. Hoenn and Sinnoh are very far away, anyway. They don't have much to worry about. Apart from Johto, nobody has really lost anything. Apart from their humanity, may be", Gary replied.

"Then what do you suggest?", Silver asked Gary.

"We move into Vermillion tomorrow and we break Janine out before any of this can happen", Gary declared.

SC

Leaf was doing her best to avoid Janine. She dreaded the day her peaceful life of overlooking the transport of cargo would come to an end and it had. When she first heard that a member of the rebels had been taken captive, she hadn't imagined that the captive would be brought to Vermillion. Janine had been an old friend. Leaf pictured the shock that be on Janine's face if she saw Leaf in a Team Rocket uniform. She tried to clear the picture from her mind as she got out of the Fan Club building and onto the streets to carry out her routine night time patrol.

Something that had really stunned Leaf was that many of the Rocket grunts that she had met weren't bad people. There were the former criminals of course, who had leapt at the chance to join the Rockets. But there were others. Many of them came from poor families and didn't want to pass up the chance for an easier life. They were opportunists and what they were doing was undoubtedly bad. But they just didn't seem like bad people. Some of them would greet her with a smile and when they addressed her as "chief", Leaf could tell that they meant respect and admiration. She didn't dare ask any of them why they had joined Team Rocket. In her mind she had an answer. Most of these people had taken it for granted that Kanto would remain under Team Rocket's clutches for a long time; maybe for the whole duration of their lifetime. If that was the case, there wasn't much wrong with joining Team Rocket and making a bit of money.

When she had first joined, she was driven by fear. She was also convinced that the rebel movement would ultimately fail. So her joining or not joining wouldn't really matter. But now the Rebels had taken three major cities in the space of days. If that was any indication, maybe independence wasn't beyond the rebels. Maybe Kanto could be free someday. And if that was the case, was she contributing against that? Was she, in her own way, big or small, being a road block? If Kanto was a lost cause she would get more peace. But she hoped with all her heart that Kanto wasn't a lost cause.

Vermillion was very different from Pallet. While her hometown was a small and homely place, Vermillion was a metropolis. It was home to Kanto's only sea-port so the money had always flowed in. Under Team Rocket the industrialization had been sped up a few more notches so the city was filled with sky-scrapers. The funny thing about living under Team Rocket was that they didn't necessarily make your life miserable. You just had to agree to everything they said and not have any Pokémon of your own. You'd also have to pay pretty high taxes but that was only after you started making some good money of your own.

Leaf finished her patrol and reached the park at the centre of the city. It was around Nine O'Clock. She remembered coming here several years ago, back when she had first started her journey. Even at that time of the night, the park would be filled with kids battling with their Pokémon. Experienced trainers did not frequent the area. The kids were all amateurs and the battles were very messy. But the kids would have big smiles on their faces and the Pokémon would jump around happily seeing their trainers' joy. This was something Team Rocket had taken away from the people of Kanto. Was this more important than the money? "Probably", she thought.

As Leaf laid back on one of the park benches, she felt something tugging at her feet. She looked down to see a small Eevee standing a few feet away from her. It was different from regular Eevee. Its fur was snow white and its eyes seemed to glisten in the moonlight. Leaf knelt down in front of it and patted its head. The Eevee moved away as she did this. As she tried to approach it again, the Eevee ran towards the bushes. Leaf did not feel like pursuing it. She knew she was overthinking it but she felt like Pokémon had started to realize that she was a bad person. After all, she was a Rocket.

Lost in her inner conflicts, it did not occur to Leaf that a wild Eevee was an unusual thing for a place like Vermillion. And if a swarm of Eevee had come to Vermillion, Team Rocket would have captured them all immediately. Eevee were simply too valuable for Team Rocket to pass up.

Leaf's radio shook up. "Chief, it's Julio. We have intruders. Please get back here quick!", a frantic voice called out to Leaf from the other side. Several guesses passed through Leaf's mind about just who this intruder could be. And she hated the prospect of meeting most of these people.

Leaf arrived at the spot to see something amazing. It was a Pokémon unlike any she had seen before. It walked on two feet like a humanoid but it also had slightly feline features. Its body was a mixture of purple and magenta. Its arms were outstretched and it kept shooting what looked like Psychic energy at the guards and their Pokémon. It didn't take Leaf too long to figure out that this was the "Mewtwo" Pokémon they had studied so much about.

"Surround it with dark types!" Leaf shouted out to the guards. Mewtwo turned its head towards her. The look in Mewtwo's eyes sent a chill down Leaf's spine. Her mind was in turmoil. The fact that Mewtwo was here meant that Ash was here. Her heart started pounding. She found herself reacting instinctively as she threw Alakazam's Pokeball to the ground.

Her loyal Alakazam took a battle stance as it locked eyes with Mewtwo. "Shadow Ball", Leaf ordered Alakzam. Her voice was as low as a whisper. Alakazam did as its trainer ordered it to, shooting a ball of black energy towards Mewtwo.

Mewtwo formed its own Shadow Ball, which was considerably larger, and launched it at Alakazam. The larger Shadow Ball consumed the smaller one and came charging towards Alakazam at blinding speed. "Teleport!" Leaf yelled out to her Pokémon. Alakazam vanished and then materialized several feet away. What happened then stunned Leaf. Mewtwo shifted its hand and pointed to where Alakazam was now standing. The Shadow Ball diverted its direction and went charging towards Alakazam again.

"_I consumed your Pokémon's energy signature when our attacks merged. There is no escape",_ an authoritative voice echoed through Leaf's head. She did not know where the voice was coming from but then she saw Mewtwo looking at her dead in the eye. Adding two and two, it didn't take her long to realize it was Mewtwo himself who was talking to her.

The Shadow Ball then crashed into Alakazam, completely encircling it in Ghost Energy. Ghost was a major weakness for any Psychic type and Alakazam was on its knees. It was breathing heavily and Leaf knew it was nearly out for the count.

"I hate using these but I have to", Leaf threw a Pokeball forward. A Weavile emerged from the Pokeball. Its eyes were bloodshot and it didn't even look it was breathing. It was one of Team Rocket's Plus 7 Pokémon. Leaf had insisted that she didn't need any. But at that point it didn't seem like such a bad idea. She knew the Weavile was now nothing more than a war machine. It did not have a conscience. It was designed to obey and kill.

"Night Slash! Cover Alakazam!", Leaf ordered the Dark/Ice Type. At this point her prime aim was to protect Alakazam. She had dragged her Pokémon into all this. She had to protect them through it. She felt sorry for the Plus 7 Pokémon but since they were already lost beyond hope, she might as well use them.

Weavile jumped at Mewtwo, slashing its claws at the Psychic type. The presence of Dark Energy nullified Mewtwo' Psychic powers to a large extent and Mewtwo was put on the defensive. In its mind it knew it didn't need to win the battle. Its orders were to buy time. It just had to keep going a bit longer.

Mewtwo jumped back on its feet and sprang into the night sky. From nearly fifteen feet into the sky, it launched a Swift attack at Weavile. Star Shaped packets of energy crashed into the Dark Pokémon, knocking it back several feet. The Pokémon didn't even take time to shake off the effect of the damage. It got back on its feel and resumed the Night Slash attack as soon as Mewtwo had landed on its feet.

The relentless attacking unsettled both Mewtwo and Leaf. For Mewtwo, the repetitive dark type attacks were too much to handle. It felt its energy slowly wither away. For Leaf, seeing a living being, or at least what she hoped was a living being, being turned into this mindless monstrosity who wouldn't stop attacking until it was dead, was something that made her want to throw up. But she knew she would have go inside and investigate what was going on. By the looks of it, Weavile would keep Mewtwo busy for a while.

Leaf ran up the stairs as fast as she could. She knew where the intruders would be. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they would be after Janine. Leaf reached the top floor. It was where they had kept her. As she had climbed the stairs, she had seen the bodies of Rocket Grunts and their Pokémon littered everywhere. Most of the grunts were still alive. But their Pokémon were dead. They were all Plus 5 Pokémon. They had to be killed. There was no other way. Leaf turned her eyes away.

Leaf slowly climbed up the stairs as she approached the top floor. There was nobody guarding the entrance to the staircase. She knelt down, trying to blend in with the shadows. Team Rocket's black uniform was perfect for camouflage. She heard voices she did not recognize. She felt relieved. _"Maybe Ash or Gary aren't here",_ she thought to herself. But then she heard a voice she knew. Her heart began to sink.

Silver was carrying Janine on his back. She was unconscious but they had checked her pulse and were relieved to find that she was alright.

"So what's the plan now?" Ash asked Silver. To the corner of the room, near the staircase, Leaf hid herself in a crouched position. She knew she had to do something. She didn't know just what.

"Toru and his Pidgeot will arrive to cause more distractions. It's our job to slip away when he does get here", Silver replied.

"Toru? You mean that kid that managed to evolve his Pidgey twice in the space of a few weeks?", Ash asked him.

"Yes that one", Silver replied.

Leaf knew that if she let them get away, she would be in trouble. As a former friend of Ash's, she had always been a target of suspicion. Some within Team Rocket would ask just how the rebels knew that Janine was being kept in Vermillion. All the fingers would point at her.

Leaf's ear piece rang up. "Chief, it's Julio. We have the sharp shooter squad ready with their Beedrills from the next building. They'll use the open windows in the top floor to shoot their Pin Missiles through. They're confident they can take down the two intruders. They have a clear view". Leaf's throat dried up. Would they kill Ash? Would she let Ash die in front of her?

"Chief?" Julio asked again through the radio, unsure if she had heard him. "Chief, can you hear me?"

"U-um no the radio's breaking up", Leaf replied in a whisper. She couldn't let them know she had heard them. But she needed to move Ash out of the way, away from the Beedrill's long distance shooting range.

She then spotted the lights. She had to take the lights out. "Ariados!"

The spider Pokémon materialized. "TAKE OUT THE LIGHTS!", she shouted. Before Ash and Silver could even react, the spider Pokémon used its own Pin Missile to take out all the lights in the room. Within seconds the room was pitch dark. She knew the Beedrill squad couldn't work in total darkness.

Suddenly, the large glass windows of the top floor, those that been closed, came crashing down. A young boy was seated on a Pidgeot.

"Let's go!", the boy called out to Ash and Silver.

Leaf knew she couldn't let them get away, either. "ARIADOS! STICKY WEB!". The bug type immediately shot is web at Pidgeot, immobilizing its wings and feet.

"WHY YOU!", the Pidgeot's trainer was angry. "HYPER BEAM!". Because of the web surrounding its wings and feet, Pidgeot couldn't aim properly, and the attack decimated large parts of the roof.

"YOU IDIOT!", Silver shouted at the boy. "TORU WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?", Ash joined in.

"Heh, sorry", the boy replied sheepishly.

Leaf's heart was racing. She had been that close to death. It was the fear of danger and death that led her to joining Team Rocket. She couldn't die now. Not after sacrificing everything to join Team Rocket. As she got out of the rubble created by the Hyper Beam, she did not notice that the large holes in the ceiling and the walls let moonlight shine in through them. She did not notice that she moved away from her hiding zone and that the silver moonlight now illuminated her face.

"L-leaf?", a voice called out her name. The voice was shaking.

Leaf was still dazed from the attack. She looked up to see Ash. He was looking right into her eyes.

**A/N: I love cliff-hangers.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

_A/N: _

_Greetings,_

_The reviews and the general response after the last chapter really inspired me. There's not a lot you get from spending hours behind a fanfic. Getting to interact with you, the reader, and hearing what you liked or did not like about the story makes it all worth it. So yes, if you enjoy the story, leave a review or two and tell me how you felt about the chapter(s)._

_If you have the time, check out my buddy phoenixfire1995's story "The beginning to a journey". While it may seem like 'just another journey fic', there is a very interesting plot underneath it all. Give it a look. I think his story creates a very interesting balance with mine. He has a very good ability to make you lighten up but get serious points across at the same time. Redemption is always so uptight._

_Anyhow, hope you like the chapter. It's a bit shorter than usual. _

Trust and Betrayal (part2)

_Nearly Ten Years Ago_

_The afternoon sun was shining a friendly shade of hazel. It was early summer and the clear sky was slowly starting to lose some of the early morning glaze. Under the pleasant summer air, three children, a girl and two boys, walked towards the northern outskirts of Pallet Town. _

"_ASH! GARY! Can we please not go there? It's dangerous!" Leaf called out to the two boys running ahead of her.  
"Oh come on, Leaf. It'll be fine!", the boy with tanned skin and raven black hair tried to reassure her. "There aren't any tough Pokémon around these parts anyway"._

"_Yeah Leaf, don't be a wimp!" the boy with brown boy taunted her._

_She had fallen behind the two and was surprised to see the raven haired boy running towards her._

"_Don't mind Gary. He's like that. But my mom says he's good at heart", the boy said to leaf, offering her his hand._

"_Yeah but he's really mean. He should be more like you, Ash", Leaf replied, taking his hand._

_The three kids crouched under the fence that blocked off the tall grass towards the northern regions of Pallet Town. A large signboard read "Danger: Wild Pokémon. Keep out"_

_As the two boys ran past the sign and into the tall grass, they did not notice Leaf staying behind. She often stayed behind when the boys went on their adventures. She would always tag along initially but when it was time for them to leave the safe confines of Pallet Town and venture into more 'exciting' areas, which almost always had something to do with wild Pokémon, Leaf found herself falling behind. There was a time when she used to be upset about this but she came to terms with being a 'wimp' as Gary called her. She just hated danger. Couldn't the boys just play in her backyard?_

_Ash and Gary continued on, moving through the tall grass as they went further and further away from Pallet._

"_Did Leaf stay behind again?" Gary asked Ash as they walked. _

"_Yeah I guess", Ash replied. He sounded sad. He had been hoping Leaf would come along this time. There wasn't much risk involved. And he would protect her if anything happened. He would always protect his friends. His mother had made him promise that._

_It had been ten minutes since she had lost sight of the boys. As she stood there, she suddenly realized something. She looked around her. She wasn't in the tall grass but she was some way away from Pallet. There was nobody there. Occasionally a Spearow would fly by overhead. Was this really less dangerous than being with the boys? After all, she was all by herself. If she cried for help, would anybody hear her? Leaf ran inside the tall grass. Being around Ash and Gary would be safer. She didn't know about Gary but she knew Ash would help her if something went wrong. _

_Ash and Gary had almost reached the large Banyan trees they had come to see. Gary had overheard his grandfather talking about a swarm of Heracross that had apparently started living around the Banyan trees in the area. They had never seen one in person and both boys were excited at the prospect._

_Suddenly, a scream echoed through the area. "That sounds like Leaf", Ash started to run towards the source of the sound. Gary followed behind him, taking care to run slower than Ash was. He didn't mind helping Leaf if she was in trouble. But he didn't want to rush into the scene. Who knows what could be happening?_

_Ash ran like he had never run before. He could feel his lungs jumping inside him. He couldn't stop. He knew this was Leaf's voice. He just knew it. And the intensity of her screams kept increasing. _

_Ash finally arrived. Panting, he crouched downs on his knees to try and catch his breath. But what he saw completely erased any concerns he was having about himself for running so hard. There was Leaf, crying in a corner. Two wild Nidorino had surrounded her. Nidorino were generally harmless Pokémon. Had she done something to anger them? He didn't have the time to think about that. _

_From slightly further away, Gary saw just what the situation was playing out. He knew there wasn't much he could do. "I'll go get Grandpa", Gary shouted towards Ash before making a dash for it. Ash knew it would be all okay after Professor Oak got there. But Gary was never the fastest runner and it would take a while before he managed to get the Professor. Ash thought of something to do. His mother had always told him to not do the first thing that came to his mind. But he went against his mother's advice. He saw a few small stones on the ground and through them at the two Nidorino. _

_The stones hit both Pokémon, who shifted their attention to the direction the stones had come from. Ash's eyes widened in fear when he saw the Nidorino dashing towards him. "GO BACK TO THE TOWN, LEAF", Ash shouted to Leaf as he turned around and started running._

_It would be a few hours before Leaf realized just what sort of risk Ash had taken for her sake. But at that moment she didn't think so much. She seized the diversion Ash had created and ran towards the town. _

_Ash, on the other hand, kept running from the Nidorino. He was already tired from running back towards Leaf after hearing the scream. And this second round of running was not proving easy. He panted for breath as he ran through the grass. It had rained the previous day and the ground had muddy patches. The summer sandals he was wearing was not made for running in wild terrains and he had to keep himself from slipping several times. _

_The Pokémon were not losing pace. Ash couldn't tell why but the Nidorino were really angry. Ash tried running in a zigzag, wondering if that would help him lose them. It didn't. The only thing it did was tire him some more. Ash saw himself crossing the Banyan trees he had seen earlier. He didn't get to see the Heracross. Would he see them some other day?_

_Ash felt his legs getting weaker. He couldn't possibly run anymore. Was this it? His legs couldn't keep up anymore. He felt himself collapse. The Nidorino almost jumped on him. One of them dug its horn into his right leg while the other kept kicking his back. Ash screamed in pain as the horn dug into his flesh. His eyes started to get blurry. _

_Everything started to get very hazy. The afternoon sun, the cries of the Nidorino, his own screams, the sound of one of the Nidorino kicking his back._

_A faint sound of someone yelling his name drifted into his ears. He also heard a Pokémon's cry. It sounded like a Charmeleon. Ash knew Professor Oak had a Charmeleon. Ash felt his eyes closing in._

_Ash woke up in Professor Oak's house. His head ached, his body ached. _

_He saw his mother sitting beside the bed. It took him a while more to realize he was in the hospital and not the Professor's house. Pallet Town only had one hospital and he had been there before when he had that bad flu. _

"_Ash, oh my baby, you're ok", Delia Ketchum almost shouted as she hugged Ash._

_As she let go of the hug, Ash saw three other people in the room. Professor Oak sat on a chair to the corner of the room. Gary was sitting on the window, looking outside. The only other person was a girl who stood near the foot of the bed. She looked guilt-stricken and Ash could tell she had been crying._

"_Apparently, Leaf's blue dress might have angered the Nidorino. It reminded them of a Nidorina, perhaps. I am not sure", Professor Oak said in a reflective tone. _

"_I am so sorry, Ash", Leaf burst into tears again. _

"_Hey it's alright. What are friends for?", Ash smiled, giving her a thumbs up._

SC

The old Pokémon Fan Club building in Vermillion was now a battlezone. Just outside the building, Mewtwo was locked in combat with Leaf's Plus 7 Weavile. Mewtwo was supposedly the artificially constructed "Perfect" Pokémon but even Mewtwo was having a hard time catching up with the deranged thing it was fighting. Mewtwo had to worry about things like injuries or over-exertion. The Weavile just kept coming. Mewtwo decapitated one of the Weavile's arms and some of the skin had come off in places. The Pokémon looked nothing short of a zombie but it still kept attacking.

The building's roof now had large openings due to Pidgeot's Hyper Beam. It wasn't a full moon but the moonlight was still strong and the silver light illuminated the top floor. Silver had Janine on his shoulder and had the presence of mind to release his Feraligatr and Houndoom from their Pokeballs. Ash stood beside him, his eyes looked as though he had just seen a ghost.

"L-leaf? I thought you were dead!", Ash said, running towards her. Silver got in the way.

"Hey what's the idea!", Ash was couldn't figure out why Silver had blocked him. "That's Leaf!"

"I don't care who that is, dumbass!", Silver shot back at him. "She's a Rocket!"

"No way, Leaf would never be a Rocket", Ash argued back.

"If you didn't fucking notice, she just attacked Toru and she has a Team Rocket uniform on!"

Ash's head went over the various different reasons for which Leaf could be wearing a Team Rocket uniform. She could have been working undercover like Silver had been. But she wouldn't attack Toru. No other Rocket was around. She didn't have to attack Toru if she was indeed working undercover. Silver had blown his cover to save Ash back at the powerplant.

"Leaf?", Ash looked at her with pleading eyes.

Tears streamed down Leaf's eyes. She clenched her fists as her Venusaur materialized from its Pokeball. Ariados and Venusaur took a full battle stance against Feraligatr and Houndoom. She didn't know if she wanted to battle but she had to. The look on Silver's eyes scared her. She could see the hate the red haired boy had for her. It was probably directed against Team Rocket. She hadn't done anything to him. People hated Rockets. She was a rocket. People hated her.

Ariados and Venusaur were acting on instinct. They recognized Ash. As far as they remembered, Leaf and Ash had been friends. But they knew that times had changed. They did not question anything. They trusted their trainer.

"LEAF? TALK TO ME!", Ash was shouting now but Leaf still kept quiet.

A sudden groan from Toru's Pidgeot diverted everyone's attention. "What is it, girl?", Toru asked his Pokémon. The bird Pokémon didn't say anything. "Beedrill Sharpshooter squad at 6'o clock? Gotcha". Toru said to his Pokémon as Pidgeot flew off in the direction of 6'o clock.

"Did they just communicate telepathically?", Silver was lost for words.

"I don't know", Ash replied, equally stunned.

They were both curious about what had happened but they didn't have the time to think about any of that.

HOUNDOOM! FIRE SPIN!".

The fire type shot a spiral blast of fire that trapped both Ariados and Venusaur. A bug and grass type respectively, the Pokémon were helpless under the assault. They looked towards their trainer for orders but Leaf was still silent.

By then a part of Ash had come to accept that Leaf might indeed be a Rocket. But if that was the case, would he have to fight her? Team Rocket had killed his mother and his two best friends. Team Rocket had abducted Professor Oak. They had basically killed Bill. They had killed Erika. They had stolen all the Pokémon at Oak's Ranch. They had taken his life away from him. He shouldn't feel any sympathy for a Rocket. But this was Leaf. At that moment Ash felt something he had felt several times during the war. He wanted to close his eyes and just go back to the simpler days of his journey. Back when the next gym was the only war he had to win and Gary was the biggest villain.

The fire attack had rendered Venusaur and Ariados immobile. They didn't move from the fear of getting hit. On top of that their trainer wasn't giving them any orders. The Pokémon just did not know what to do.

"Feraligatr! Slash!

The water type rushed at Leaf with its arms outstretched. Leaf looked up in horror to see Feraligatr coming her way. Was this it? Would dying this way help her redeem herself in Ash's eyes? Surely Ash knew Leaf could have put up more of a fight if she tried. The fact that the she wasn't being able to bring herself to fight him meant that she had some semblance of good left in her heart, right? Maybe Ash would recognize that. Leaf closed her eyes.

"PIKACHU! THUNDER!", Ash's ever so familiar voice floated into her ears. Somehow she knew this would have happened. This was Ash. _Her _Ash. This was the Ash who always protected her. She may have lost her humanity. But he was the same Ash. He would never change.

A vicious spark of electricity crashed into Feraligatr, immediately knocking the water type out.

"What the hell?", Silver looked at Ash with eyes that could kill.

Ash did not answer. He kept looking at Leaf hoping she would say something, hoping she would explain the situation. Then he would look at Silver with a proud "I told you so" face.

No reply of that sort came. Instead, Ash and Silver both heard a shrilly female laugh echo down on them from above. They looked up to see Sabrina, Saffron City's treacherous gym leader, sitting atop a Metagross.

"So has met our special recruit, has he?", Sabrina had a smile that sickened Ash.

"What's the matter, ? Lost for words? DISABLE!"

Before Ash or Silver could do anything, they felt their bodies going numb. Their Pokémon were feeling the same, as they all found themselves unable to move.

Sabrina landed next to them and took Janine from Silver's arms. "I'll take that".

"Come on now, Leaf", Sabrina said as he boarded Metagross again. Leaf did not say anything as she recalled her Pokemon and boarded Metagross as well.

"Bye bye, . Just so you know, I'd been watching for a while. I loved how you couldn't attack Leaf. You hero types have such high expectations of yourself.", Sabrina laughed like a madman. "All this humanity never did any good".

As they moved away on Metagross, Sabrina turned to Leaf. "I would have loved to kill them both. But we have to keep the rebels happy until the foreign dignitaries leave. Can't harm the prince of the rebels now can we?


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: Hello again!_

_WARNING: LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE TODAY. SKIP IF YOU HATE THESE._

_The last chapter saw the story cross 100 reviews. That is a pretty neat landmark and I would just like to thank everyone who's reviewed the story so far. Reviews are basically the only way for FanFiction writers to interact with their readers so it's pretty fun to get them._

_On a different note, a reviewer complained that the story is 'too serious, too violent and too dark'. Well, the story's description does say "a story of war and treachery" so I don't know what exactly you should expect. War brings out the worst in people. My own country, Bangladesh, had a pretty bloody war of independence in 1971 and many parts of this story are inspired by that war. I just wanted to incorporate Pokémon into all that. _

_Check out my friend __DIM666 - Insane Leader's story "Pokemon Crystal Mind"__. It has a pretty interesting plot underneath a seemingly traditional Pokémon story. Interesting take on morality and the idea of right or wrong._

_Anyhow, hope you enjoy this chapter. It's more of an appetizer for the grand tussle that awaits you in the coming chapters, which will lead to the climax of the second story arc. Hope you like it! _

Chapter Nine

A Double Operation!

It was nearly forty minutes before the effects of the Disable attack wore off. Silver realized just how effective an antidote time could be. He had been livid with Ash's interference just when he had Leaf on the backfoot. He felt like kicking Ash in the groin. Regardless of Ash's importance to the rebel movement, Ash had just ruined an operation by being overly sentimental. But after forty minutes of just standing there, frozen in time, Silver's rage had subsided to a point.

The first thing Ash did after the attack wore off was to contact James about Janine's whereabouts. The news he got made him uncomfortable.

"The administration has gotten suspicious after recent events. They're more than certain now that someone inside Team Rocket is leaking information. They've thrown us off course. They're preparing two separate operations now and apparently both of them are to 'safeguard a hostage'. She could be in either of these locations. We won't know for sure. Only Class A members know", James told Ash and Silver over the ESP connection.

"And where are these locations?" Silver asked.

"One is the Ghost Tower in Lavender, the other is Cinnabar Island. It could be either of them. Team Rocket hasplenty of Pokémon with Teleport too", James replied.

Ash understood the operation had just gotten a whole lot more difficult. Maybe if he hadn't hesitated so much, they would have been able to make a clean getaway but now the whole thing had gotten a lot more complicated. He just didn't know what he should have done in that situation. The whole invasion had already affected him deeply enough and now to see a childhood friend serving, apparently, in a Team Rocket uniform , was not something Ash could just accept. He looked in Silver's direction with a guilt-etched face.

Silver gritted his teeth. He hated to admit it but he could sort of understand Ash's situation. He had personally never had any friends in his life. But since meeting Ash, he could slowly begin to understand what it was like to trust someone, to believe in someone. So he could understand how Ash was feeling. Even then, after seeing so many prominent Pokémon Trainers turn out to be Rocket Conspirators, it really shouldn't have stunned Ash so much to see Leaf join them. Silver knew war brought out the ugly side in everyone.

Silver knew he would have been surprised if Ash hadn't acted the way he had. Maybe what Ash did wasn't bad. If more people had a heart like Ash's, the whole situation with Rocket wouldn't have been created. But having such a pure heart in such dark times was probably a bad thing too. Silver just didn't know anymore. He hated having to make judgements on things like this.

Back at the UANK base in Pewter, Adam and Lance began to prepare squads for the new operations.

"I should stay back. In case they attack from the east, I am the only one who can control Articuno", Lance said as he buckled his Pokeballs to his belt.

"Yes good idea. I'll take a squad to Cinnabar. I don't see how we can be stealthy about this. Apparently Mewtwo is too exhausted from fighting dark Pokémon. It cannot help us with teleportation. No other Pokémon can teleport over such large distances. We'll have to fly there", Adam replied.

"And what about the Pokémon Tower?", Lance asked.

"That'll be up to Ash and Silver. I'm sending Nita, Luke and Agatha to support them. Lavender isn't that far from Pewter. Nita's Espeon will be able to get them there. Mewtwo will get the boys there. They'll have the luxury of stealth. I think they'll be fine. I am not too positive about our operation though. Flying head-on towards Cinnabar could end with casualties", Adam said.

"Why don't you send Ash there instead, then?", Lance asked.

"What?", Adam was surprised by this question.

"I mean if it's dangerous, wouldn't Ash be better prepared to face it than others?" Lance replied.

"Oh. No I'm confident we can do it. She's most likely to be in Lavender. Team Rocket wouldn't move a high profile hostage to somewhere as isolated as Cinnabar, I think. And just in case, I'm calling Toru back from Vermillion. The kid's a bit crazy but he can work flying Pokémon really well", Adam replied, as he started to make his way outside.

SC

Lavender Town was home to the Pokémon Tower, Kanto's largest Pokémon cemetery. The presence of the large and intimidating structure was its most prominent feature. Along with the generally dull weather, the tower gave the town a very melancholy vibe. Death is the biggest fear for humans and Pokémon alike. To have something like the tower constantly reminding them about the ultimate truth of life was not pleasant. So the town, obviously, wasn't a very cheerful place. Before the invasion, it had been sparsely populated and tourists hardly ever visited. The sort of people most common in the town was trainers who were resting on their way to Celadon City.

After the invasion, the people of the town had been moved Celadon, so the town did not have a civilian population. It housed several research facilities and warehouses. Most Rocket grunts did not have a clear idea about what exactly went on in these laboratories or what the warehouses stored but there were loads of rumours. Some speculated that Colress, the Unovan scientist responsible for the Plus 5 and Plus 7 injections used Lavender as his base. Others speculated that the warehouses were being used to house ferocious new artificial Pokémon that Team Rocket were creating.

As Ash and Silver crept through the city's dark and deserted streets, they realized something strange. It was really foggy. What was strange about this was that this wasn't the time of the year for fog. It had to be a Pokémon move.

"Ash", Silver whispered. "They expect us. They know we'll be hitting both Cinnabar and Lavender. Be on your guard".

"Yes", Ash replied. Nita and Luke followed closely behind them. It had been decided that Agatha would observe them from a distance. The place being Lavender Town, Team Rocket was likely to use Ghost Pokémon. Being a Ghost Pokémon master herself, Agatha would be able to fend them off if necessary.

James hadn't been able to tell them exactly where in Lavender Janine would be kept. But both Silver and Ash had a guess.

"It's not really haunted, you know", Silver whispered to the others, sensing the sort of unease Ash, Nita and Luke had about entering the Pokémon Tower.

"I know", Luke replied, trying to sound confident. His voice seemed shaky though. "Relax Luke, your big sis will save your ass from any mean ghosts", Nita replied playfully.

Luke flicked his finger against his sister's forehead. "Ouch!" she cried out.

"Quiet!" Silver ordered them. The authority in his voice scared the other two, who instantly fell silent.

They had to carefully manoeuvre around the dark alleyways to get within sight of the tower's front entrance. Expectedly it was well guarded. The city was basically a large storehouse of Rocket grunts. Everyone there expect for the five of them were rocket grunts. After the assault on Vermillion, Team Rocket expected the rebels to know where Janine would be hidden and they were on high alert. Silver was surprised that the alleys hadn't been better guarded since the Rebel Movement's use of Teleportation wasn't exactly unknown.

"Nita, take Ash and go around the back of the building. You've got grass Pokémon, right? Use a Vine Whip to climb through a window", Silver told Nita.

"Ok but Luke and I have more experience working together. Shouldn't we maintain our squads?" she asked.

"Yes but you are very agile. Ash and I are both heavy battlers. I think it would speed things up. Me and Luke will create a diversion up front", Silver told her.

Nita nodded and she and Ash made their way towards the other side of the tower. In his mind Ash knew that strategy wasn't the only reason Silver had insisted on splitting the squads. The red haired boy was probably still mad at him. But he didn't say anything. Now was not the time to get caught up in emotions. His emotions had already made a huge mess earlier on. He had to fix things.

Just keeping up with Nita was proving to be a hassle. She was very skilled in moving stealthily and she almost seemed to glide across the dimly lit streets. Fortunately for them, the city had bad lighting owing to how no civilians lived in it. The darkness worked in their favour. The artificial fog seemed to aid them rather than deter them.

A fence surrounded the area just behind the tower and Ash almost fell when trying to climb over it. Nita grabbed his hand just in time to help him get over. As she did, Ash stumbled again and they both fell over the other side, with Ash landing right on top of her. They both blushed when they realized the situation and quickly moved apart.

Nita released a Bayleef, which used its vine whip to make a rope that latched on to a window on the fourth floor. Seeing Nita's Bayleef reminded Ash of his own, a memory that stung him. But he pushed those thoughts away for now. Just as Nita and Ash managed to climb in through the window, they heard a large explosion. A huge alarm rang out through Lavender.

"That should be Silver", Ash said as he observed the room they were in. It was only lit by candles and apart from Nita and himself, was completely empty. Rows of tombstones lined the floor. The fact that someone's beloved Pokémon were buried there made him feel uneasy. The Pokémon of his that had been at Oak's Ranch, were they alright? Had Team Rocket converted them to those mindless things? Were they even alive? Being dead would probably be better than being turned into one of those things.

"Ash Ketchum", Nita's voice rang Ash out his reverie.

"Huh? Oh please call me Ash", he replied.

"Ok. I never got to thank you for saving my brother back in Pewter"

"What? Well you did save my life a bit later so I am sure we're even"

"Yes but I saw a comrade in peril. I reacted like anyone would. But you could have decided that some other part of the battle was more important and not gone after Luke. It wouldn't have been a wrong move"

"Oh that's alright", in truth Ash was lost for words. When Nita had come crying to him for help, he didn't have to think twice about running after her brother. He knew Silver would have analysed the strategic value of it all but he had never been much of a thinker.

"Well it's great to finally meet you, really. My name is Amanita Duplantier. People just call me 'Nita'. I know you were the Champion before the invasion so there probably isn't much I could give you and we should get back to the operation quickly too so here"

As soon as she finished, she brought her face close to Ash's and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Let's look around then", she ran towards the stairs.

Ash was didn't know how to respond. He quietly followed after her. His face turned bright red.

Back outside, Silver's Houndoom had managed to hit a couple of trucks with its fire attacks. The flames collided with the gas cylinders, causing the trucks to explode in flames. The attack sent the grunts into a frenzy and hundreds gathered around the truck. They had been expecting an attack but they had assumed the attack would be more stealth based. Such a wide open attack was, after all, very stupid. Within minutes, Silver and Luke were surrounded.

Silver snapped his fingers and Mewtwo materialized. Within seconds, a teleportation circle opened and the two vanished. They reappeared fifty feet away. Seeing the annoyance in the eyes of the Rocket grunts gave Silver a very fulfilling feeling. These people _needed_ to be disturbed, they _needed_ to be troubled. Luke noticed the smirk on Silver's face and it slightly unnerved him.

Inside the tower, Ash and Nita were both surprised at the complete lack of Rocket grunts on any of the floors. Given the Rockets fully expected them to show up, why weren't there any grunts there at all? Or had they made the wrong guess about Janine being held in there? Was she somewhere else in the city?

Suddenly, everything around Ash turned black. He could still feel the heat from the candles but the light had completely faded. Ash tried calling after Nita but no sounds seemed to come out of his mouth. Then Ash froze. There was a woman there; a woman he knew. To Ash's utter surprise, it was his mother. She was standing across the room. She had the same warm smile on her face. The same faded dress. He had insisted on buying her better clothes after he became the champion but she had refused. There she was.

"Ash?" she approached him. She had the same vibe about her. She walked the same way, her voice modulations were the same. It couldn't have been someone else. No Ditto could fake mannerisms.

"Mom?" Ash could barely reply. He tried squinting his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Was this really his mom? But she was dead. It wasn't a rumour. He had seen his house had been abandoned. Or was it because she had faked her death somehow? Maybe she was alive. She had just escaped somehow. She was alive!

Ash ran after her, wrapping her in a tight hug. It was the tightest hug he had ever hugged. He started sobbing very loudly, completely unaware of his surroundings. "Mom, I can't believe you're alive. I was so sure you were gone. I shouldn't have been stupid. I knew you'd survive"

Delia patted her son's back. "Yes son, don't worry. I somehow managed to fake my death and escape Pallet. I know you saw the house was abandoned when you went to visit with Silver but that was because the people of Pallet knew I was dead. I had to maintain that story or else the Rockets would keep coming after me"

In the euphoria of the moment, it didn't occur to Ash exactly how she knew about him visiting the house with Silver. She had never met Silver. Ash had met Silver about five years after he had last seen his mother.

Nita did not notice when Ash had fallen behind. She looked around only to see he wasn't there. As she was about to retrace her steps to find Ash, she heard an elderly male voice. It was a familiar voice and it reminded her of a large farm house off the coast of Lilycove City.

"Amanita my girl", the voice called after her. She turned around to see an elderly man in a morning gown. He had a homely smile.

"G-grandpa?"

SC

A formation of Pokémon flew southwards towards Cinnabar from the southern shores of Pallet. The trainers riding on the Pokémon wore cloaks. This, along with the dark night sky, made it impossible for anyone to tell who the trainers were. The formation was split into three stages. Two Fearow led the formation. They were followed by an Aerodectyl, a Talonflame and a Flygon. The rear guard had two Pidgeot. The formation had been put together very quickly and every existing UANK member donated whatever Flying Pokémon they had for the operation. In the end, the fastest and most versatile flyers were chosen. Adam knew that Team Rocket were fully expecting them to come and would be prepared to attack.

The night had been windy to begin with and as they neared the half way mark, the winds started to pick up. The trainers still stuck to the formation strictly. Even if it had been put together very quickly, it ensured the best chances of survival. The middle line, with Aerodectyl, Talonflame and Flygon, had the best selection of attacks. The line of Fearow and Pidgeot up front and behind would basically just work as distractions.

They were still about an hour or so away from Cinnabar when they spotted a single flying Pokémon. Even in the darkness of the night, the Pokémon shone brightly.

"What exactly is that?" one of the cloaked trainers asked. His voice had a very mechanical pitch.

"That, I believe, is Moltres", another cloaked voice replied. His voice sound aged.

_**A/N: Yay another cliff hanger! **_


	10. Chapter 10

_Author's Note: I have been waiting for so long to write an aerial battle. We are finally here!_

_This is the part of the story where romance becomes a plot element. Now I haven't really read too much romance novels in my life so I will apologize in advance if I mess it up. _

_So the number of chapters hits double figures with this one! Thank you to you if you have stuck with this story so far. This project started out as nothing more than practise. But it's grown into nothing short of an obsession. _

_The second story arc finishes in roughly five chapters._

**Chapter Ten**

**_Jiyuu No Tsubasa_ (The Wings of Freedom) pt1**

Moltres' cries echoed like thunder through the sky. Its flames lit up the night. For anyone looking it at it from a distance, mistaking it for a heavenly deity would be an easy mistake to make. Moltres was one of Kanto's Three Legendary Birds, Pokémon that had looked over Kanto and its people for centuries. They were majestic, elegant creatures. For a legendary bird to appear like this was said to be the sign of bad times. It did not look like it was in peace; far from it. It shot flames in various directions, almost as though it wasn't in control of its own actions. Whether this was to intimidate the oncoming enemies or because it was rampaging aimlessly, nobody could tell.

The formation of New Kanto units that had been approaching Cinnabar did not slow down.

"My friends!" one of the cloaked figures spoke up. Nobody had trouble identifying the mechanical tone. It was Adam.

"Moltres is a legendary Pokémon. It is probably stronger than anything we have seen so far. But we can't slow down. Let's give this our all. Let's win this or die trying. FOR KANTO!"

"FOR KANTO!" everyone else cried in unison.

The formation headed straight on towards Moltres. The front line had two Fearow, which kept exchanging positions with each other to make aim more difficult. The second line, with Flygon, Aerodactyl and Talonflame flew forward without any special movements. The back line fell behind, keeping their distance in case they were needed as back up.

The two Fearow fixed their aim and shot a Hyper Beam each at Moltres. The two separate attacks spiralled around each other as they approached Moltres. The legendary fire type was not unmanned. A Team Rocket member was clearly on it but Adam or the others couldn't tell who exactly this was. Only part of the trainer's body that was visible was his hair and Adam could see it was red.

As the attacks approached Moltres, something none of the rebels were expecting to happen, happened. Moltres vanished. Moltres reappeared behind Flygon and it hit it with a Flamethrower from a point blank range. Flygon did not have the time to turn around and shield the trainer that been flying on it. The cloaked trainer got completely engulfed in flames and let go of the grip. Surprisingly though, the trainer did not cry out in pain when the fire hit. The trainer fell off of Flygon and hit the water.

Aerodactyl targeted Moltres with an Ancient Power attack. The rock type attack would be very effective on the part flying type Moltres. But Moltres vanished again when the rocks got close.

"What the hell is happening?" one of the cloaked figures said aloud in frustration.

"The guy who's controlling Moltres has a high level Psychic Pokémon with him. Probably an Alakazam or something. It's using Teleport" one of the cloaked figures with a very mechanical voice spoke up.

Moltres reappeared back where it had initially been. It started to fly towards them.

"Look it's not teleporting this time. The psychic type is tired. We have to get it before the psychic type regains energy. ATTACK NOW!" the cloaked figure with the mechanical voice spoke up again.

The Fearow had regained their breath after the last rounds of Hyper Beam and launched another couple of Hyper Beams. The attacks raced towards Moltres with vicious speed, with the sheer velocity of the attack creating large ripples in the water as they travelled towards Moltres.

Moltres countered with its own Hyper Beam. The solitary attack from Moltres went head to head with the two from the two Fearow. Moltres' Hyper Beam easily overpowered the other two and came charging towards the Fearow.

Hyper Beam had always been a double edged sword. For all its great power, the attack rendered the user completely helpless for a while after the attack. The Fearow could not move as the attacks came rushing towards them and took the full blast of the attacks. Luckily they had been unmanned but the Pokémon still crashed into the ocean.

The second line, Talonflame, Aerodactyl and Flygon, flew towards Moltres , taking advantage of the time Moltres would need to recover from using its own Hyper Beam. The legendary fire type stood in its place awaiting the attack. It was clearly cornered.

Then the water seemed to split open as three Dragonite emerged from the water. The approaching trio almost halted in their steps but before they could react, three different Giga Impacts came charging after them.

Their trainers tried to fly away from the course of the attacks but the Dragonite were much too fast. Suddenly, the Dragonite stooped down, completely avoiding Talonflame, Aerodactyl and Flygon. Instead, the tree went rushing towards the two Pidgeot in the backline.

The hood covering the face of the trainer of one of the Pidgeot fell off. "He's seen through our ruse", he muttered in frustration.

Anyone would think the main units would be on the trio of powerful flying Pokémon in the middle. It would only make sense for the leader of the operation to be on Talonflame, Aerodactyl or Flygon. So they would attack the middle first, intent on taking that line out. Adam's plan had been to use dummies. The trainers on the trio in the middle were Ditto. Only the two Pidgeot at the back had actual trainers; him and Gary. When Team Rocket would focus on the trio in the middle, the Pidgeot could slip off largely unnoticed.

But for whatever reason, the Rockets had seen through that plan. Dragonites came charging towards the two Pidgeot.

"COME ON GIRLS!" a voice that could be described as that of a lunatic caught everyone's attention. It was Toru, on his Pidgeot, followed by a huge army of Pidgey and Pidgeotto, numbering in the thousands. The birds crashed into the Dragonite with Tackles and although they weren't able to block the attack completely, the accumulated impact of their attack was enough to knock the Dragon Types off course.

"Sorry I was late cap'n. I had to gather a lot of the dearies from around Kanto" Toru said with a huge grin on his face. Adam didn't have the time to react properly to Toru.

Many of the Pidgey and Pidgeotto were knocked out instantly and crashed into the ocean. "You did well, my dearies. May you soar in the skies of heaven", Toru passionately declared with his hand on his chest.

Giga Impact was similar to Hyper Beam in that it too left the user requiring rest. Flygon, now unmanned as the Ditto ruse had failed, put everything it had into using three successive Dragonpulse attacks. Luckily for everyone, the Dragonite were not Plus 7 Pokémon. They were normal ones. Dragons, as strong as they were, had strangely been weak to attacks of their own type. The dragons were out for the count right away. Flygon was exhausted and Adam recalled it to its Pokeball. The Flygon had been rescued from a Pokémon Orphanage that Team Rocket had ravaged. They had killed the elderly couple that had been running it and taken off with the Pokémon. They had somhow left a Trapinch behind. That Trapinch never forgot those memories.

The brief relief they had after defeating the Dragonite was quickly off their minds when Moltres' war cry brought back their attention to the fact that they still had to fight a living, breathing legendary.

SC

Ash and his mother were in Ash's old room. She was tucking him into bed like she used to all those years ago. Back then Ash used to get annoyed, telling her how a grown up boy like him didn't need his mother tucking him in. This time, though, he didn't complain.

"And then we defeated the Rockets in Pewter!", Ash excitedly recalled the events of his struggles to his mother, who was listening to his stories with a bright, warm smile just like she used to back when Ash was little.

"Pikachu was brilliant. You should've seen it!" Ash said with a big smile on his face.

"Oh I'm so proud of you Ash" she grinned.

There was a knock on the door. "Oh I'll get that", Delia walked towards the door. It was a man in purple pyjamas. Ash knew this man. "Koga!" Ash exclaimed. Koga was the former leader of the Fuchsia City gym. He was among the gym leaders who had aided Team Rocket.

"Ash Ketchum, please wake up. You're under a Dream Eater atta-"

Before Koga could finish, Delia slapped him across the face. "You have some nerve coming in here and saying that after being a traitor. My son just got tired and needed some rest. He'll get back to looking for his friend Janine in the morning".

Ash was still in bed but something confused him. He was sure he hadn't mentioned Janine to his mother yet. How did she know? He might have told her. He was pretty forgetful, after all.

"If you're real, who did I kill?" Koga's question stunned Ash. "What?" Ash managed to mutter.

"That's right. I killed Delia Ketchum on the day of the invasion. She is an illusion. You're trapped in a dream" Koga said to Ash in a monotone voice.

Ash almost sprang up from his bed and jumped at Koga, trying to aim for his neck. Koga managed to jump, having trained as a ninja in his younger years. "There is little you can do to me without your Pokémon".

"You Bastard!" Ash shouted as he leapt at Koga again. This time again, Koga jumped away, landing on Ash's bed. "Yes, hate me. Know that I killed your mother. Know that this is a dream and snap out of it"

"No Ash, he's lying. I'm fine, Ash. See?" Delia wrapped Ash in a hug. It was the sort of hug that reminded him of his childhood. All the time he had spent with his mother. They had never had it easy but they faced it together. Growing up, she had always covered up for the absence of his dad. She had been an incredible mother. He didn't want to believe she was dead.

"If you choose to remain in this illusion, the world will fall apart. The foreigners will come here in a few days and if Team Rocket manages to show them that they're still more or less completely in control of Kanto, the chances of Kanto being liberated will drop considerably. But if you break out of this stupid illusion and help me rescue Janine, Team Rocket won't have that. They will lose the trade relationships with foreign countries", Koga tried to reason with Ash.

"No Ash, the foreigners won't think like that. They'll support Team Rocket's trade anyway. Don't reason with Rockets. They've lost the right to live." Delia urged Ash.

Now Ash's mind was going crazy. He wanted to believe his mother. But she would never know politics. His mother had always kept her distance from it and would go to a different room if people at party started discussing politics. For her to discuss what the foreign countries could do was hugely uncharacteristic. And the way she said the last sentence. She almost sounded like Adam. It's like someone had taken random memories out of his mind and used those as a template to flesh out Delia's character.

"I killed her. She tried to escape. Venomoth poisoned her. Her steps slowed down. She couldn't run anymore. I got near her. I stabbed her in the back. I stabbed her because she represented you. We hated you so much" Koga slowly described the way she was killed. He took small pauses between the words, as though he wanted to let the words sink in.

The images flashed across Ash's mind. He saw his mother trying to run away and slowing down when the poison started to kick in. He could see her face turning pale. He could see her slow down and ultimately stop running. He could see Koga stabbing her.

As the images played in his mind, the Delia that was hugging him began to get blurry. "Ash!" she tried to call after him. Her voice started to grow faint. Ash was finally being able to pull himself together. But one thing didn't make sense. Why was Koga helping him? And if this was a dream, how had Koga managed to get inside it?

"Why are you helping me? And how did you get in here?" Ash asked Koga.

"Janine is my daughter, as you know. Team Rocket had initially agreed to leave her alone but they're clearly not respecting that agreement. And I used my Noctowl to interfere with the Dream Eater" Koga replied, walking up to Ash. He handed Ash a small knife. "Stab her with it. It will create the emotional shock necessary to break free of the attack"

Ash took the knife in his hand and examined it. Delia had almost faded. Her voice was completely silent now and the most she managed was a pleading expression. "I'm sorry", Ash thrust the knife into her. The room around them completely faded.

Ash woke up in the room where Nita had kissed him. Koga sat crouched next to him with a Noctowl perched on his shoulder.

Seeing Koga reminded Ash of something. This man had killed his mother. Ash looked at Koga, trying to examine if Koga would do something. Ash's mind was overrun by different emotions. For one, he felt like letting Charizard loose on him. Ash instinctively reached for his Pokeballs. Thankfully, they were still there. He also wished Silver was with him. Silver was always the better decision maker.

"Don't worry. I won't do anything. If I wanted to, I could've removed your Pokeballs or just killed you when you were under the attack's influence" Koga walked towards Nita. "But I clearly didn't, so I suggest we work together. You can kill me after you get Janine to safety".

"Do you know her well?" Koga asked Ash, motioning towards Nita. She was asleep on the ground. She was smiling in her sleep, occasionally muttering the word "Grandpa".

"Um" Ash didn't really know how to reply. He had worked with her for a while. He knew she was a playful, generally cheerful person. She had also kissed him just a while ago. Did that mean anything? Or had that been part of the Dream Eater too?

"Well we'll have to try and convince her. I'll keep my distance. You go in and see what you can do" Koga seemed to mutter something to his Noctowl. Ash felt like he was being sucked into another dimension.

Ash was walking through the lawn of a countryside estate. A young girl in a light yellow sundress was playing with a small Eevee. It didn't take Ash too long to recognize who the girl was. She had beautiful red hair. When the wind played with her hair, the strands looked like flames. Her smile was the same enchanting smile he had first seen back in Pewter.

"Nita!" Ash walked over to her.

"Ah Ash!" she came running towards him and wrapped him in a hug. "I'm glad you're back from Ever Grande already. I'd been missing you". She softly kissed him in the lips. Ash didn't know how to react. Was this his dream or her's?

An elderly man in a morning gown walked out from the bungalow. "Ah Ash my boy, glad to see you're back. Amanita was missing you a bit too badly this time" the old man said with a grin.

"Grandpa!" Nita protested, turning red.

The whole scenario confused Ash. Was this what Nita's dreamworld looked like? In Ash's dreams, his mother had been revived. Meeting his mother was something he had craved badly ever since he had heard the news of her death. In this world, it looked him and Nita were married or at least engaged. Was this something Nita craved? Ash didn't know if he should be flattered or confused.

Ash remembered what Koga had said. An emotional shock helped break free off these dreams. Ash noticed a few rocks in the garden nearby. He picked one up and went running after Nita's grandfather.

"Ash what are you doing?" Nita shouted after him in shock. Ash smashed the rock into the old man's face. Instead of bleeding or crying out in pain, the man's body seemed to get blurry. Ash kept hitting him repeatedly while Nita screamed at him from behind. He turned around and threw the rock at her. As soon as the rock hit her, the world around them blacked out.

Nita woke up to see Ash sitting next to her, crouched down so he was looking down at her face. "What was that?" she slowly got up.

"That was the effects of Dream Eater. A Pokémon move that plays with our hearts and shows us things we desire. Wonderful illusions", Koga replied back to her.

"Did you see all that?", Nita asked Ash, realizing Ash had probably just gotten a peak into her mind and her feelings for him.

"Yes", Ash nodded, with a visible blush, as he got up.

SC

Adam had shifted to Talonflame. The two fire birds went at each other from a distance with fire attacks. For some reason, Moltres seemed to be running out of breath even though it hadn't done something excessive. Gary and Toru had positioned themselves so that Moltres didn't have much room to teleport to. Despite its strength, if Moltres and its trainer wanted to end the battle, they would have to get close. And if they did, Aerodactyl would capitalize with Rock type attacks.

By the looks of it, they had Moltres on the back foot. What happened then stunned them. From behind Moltres, an army of flying Pokémon started approaching. There were at least a thousand of them.

"Shit", Adam felt his throat dry up.

If they retreated now, the huge army could follow them all the way to New Kanto. And even if Articuno was able to fend off the other Pokémon, it would be weak against Moltres. By all accounts, he had to eliminate Moltres.

"Oh Arceus", Adam muttered.


	11. Chapter 11

_Author's Note: Chapter 9-11 have been posted in the span of ten days. I was on holiday in my hometown so I had a bit of free time. What other way to put all that time to use? The frequency of updates will die down now. Back to school. Yay._

_If you have the time, check out "The Waters of Tennessee" by Blue-Eyed Cat. It is a very interesting story, very different from anything I've read so far. A girl from California moves to the middle of Tennessee with only a polluted pond in her backyard? Well someone has to purify it. And who is this someone? Suicune._

'_Redemption' crossed two thousand views recently, which is pretty damn awesome given it's only been about three months. Thank you to for your support._

_Hope you like it. Do review!_

_**Chapter 11**_

_**Jiyuu No Tsubasa (The Wings of Freedom) pt2**_

Adam's throat went dry as he started at what lay ahead of him. Moltres, the legendary guardian bird of fire, followed by an entire armada of flying units. It was hard to count but there must have been at least several hundred. On the other side there were three of them, him on Talonflame, Gary, now on Aerodactyl and Toru on his Pidgeot. Around fifty of the birds Toru had brought with him remained in flight.

He was the one leading the squad, or whatever was left of it. He had to make the decisions. And one thing Adam hated was having to make decisions. When UANK was formed, something he was looking forward to was not having to make decisions anymore. But there he was, having to make life and death decisions in an uphill battle. Why exactly did this war even have to happen? Five years ago, his life was set.

He had come to Celadon City on his way to competing in the Kanto League. He lost to Erika and asked to train under her for a few months. She took him in as her student and he decided to pit stop in the city for a while. Part of him looked forward to it because she was one of the strongest gym leaders around; a part of him had unknowingly developed a crush on her.

He would help her take care of the plants. It seemed boring to him at first but she said it would help him become more patient. It would help him 'understand how beings grow', she would say. One thing led to another. And in the span of seven months, they were engaged. He let go of travelling around. He would rather wake up early every morning to water the plants at the gym. Erika never spoke too much but whenever she did, she enchanted him.

And then the Rockets came. Erika had battled Team Rocket off many times before. But something about them seemed different this time. He had never seen her outclassed so easily, never seen her pushed into a corner. Would things have been easier if she had surrendered? News was coming in that several gym leaders had surrendered or had been with Team Rocket to begin with. Erika wouldn't surrender. This was something that upset him and made him proud at the same time.

He remembered the fire. Trainers with fire type Pokémon often got an advantage at the Celadon City gym. He cursed the Pokémon league and their rules. As the grass type Gym Leader, she could only have grass types.

The fire got more terrifying. The large greenhouse that the gym was began to collapse. He saw the fire surround her; he saw his life being ripped apart in front of his eyes. He saw what it was like to be helpless.

He spent five years training to ensure that he was never helpless again. But here he was, helpless again. He hated his situation.

"What do we do, cap'n?" Toru asked him in his ever-so-confident manner.

Adam realized he had to do something he had never wanted to do; ask for help. He would have to ask Ash over the ESP line to send Mewtwo over. But if they used Mewtwo, how would Ash's crew make a quick escape if necessary? All this was playing over in Adam's mind when suddenly a Charizard came flying towards the battlefield. The Charizard positioned itself in front of the remaining UANK units, facing the oncoming Rocket forces.

There were two things that were intriguing about this Charizard. For one, it was unmanned. It didn't even look like it was working on the orders of a trainer who was far away or commanding it from a distance. It seemed like it was acting on its own. Second, it was a shiny Pokémon. The normal orange of a Charizard was replaced by blue. This confused Adam. To the best of his knowledge, shiny Charizard were black. But then he noticed the blue flames burning on the tip of its tail. That could only mean one thing. This was a Mega Evolution. This was a shiny Mega Charizard X.

The Charizard flew towards Moltres, roaring as it went. Its war cries signalled the intent to fight. Or did it? Adam felt like Charizard was arguing with Moltres. Suddenly, Moltres started shifting in its position. Adam had noticed how uncomfortable it had looked all long and this time it seemed like it was trying to shake off its trainer. Because of the sheer distance between them, Adam couldn't hear much but it was clear Moltres' trainer was shouting at it. For a second Adam thought the voice sounded familiar but he couldn't really tell from so far away. Moltres did a complete three hundred and sixty degree flip and it was enough to knock off its trainer. The cloaked figure was about to fall into the water before a Pidgeot from the army of Rocket units assembled flew in to catch him.

Moltres flew over towards Adam. For a minute, Adam felt anxious about what Moltres was going to do. But there was a look in its eyes that suggested it wasn't going to harm him. And Adam was right. Moltres stopped in front of him and although it did not speak a word, Adam felt a warmth spread through this heart; like Moltres had written a letter and sent it directly to his heart; a letter pledging allegiance.

Moltres turned and headed straight for the army of rocket units. The pace at which everything was happening was almost too much for Adam to process but he knew the tide had just turned in the rebels' favour. Molres flew like a free spirit. It was clear that for as long Moltres had been under Team Rocket's control, it hadn't been fighting with full power.

The flames on Moltres' body intensified. The rocket units seemed to hesitate but before they could do much, Moltres' flames had surrounded them. What followed then was beautiful and horrifying at the same time.

Moltres' war cries pierced the night as wave after wave of searing hot flames engulfed almost every single Rocket unit assembled. Had Moltres been under some mind control before? Adam couldn't tell but it was clear Rocket's hold over it had been weak. It had broken free. Adam counted his lucky stars that Moltres had not been fighting at full strength earlier. They wouldn't have been able to lay a finger on it, by the looks of it.

Only the Pidgeot that rescued the Rocket member that had been controlling Moltres managed to fly to a safe distance. Almost every other Rocket fell in the way of Moltres' wrath. Adam could tell how disgusted Moltres felt. It was almost as though the legendary bird felt impure because of what the Rockets had made it do. Adam realized it was the perfect chance for him to advance.

"Gary, Toru, we have to move now. Advance!", Adam's Talonflame flew on ahead. They would be in Cinnabar very shortly.

"Come on, my dearies." Toru followed after him.

As Adam flew towards Cinnabar, he realized the mysterious Shiny Mega Charizard had disappeared. What exactly was that all about? Did it belong to someone or was it acting on its own? It was hard to tell. At least it was an ally; that much was clear. In fact, its presence seemed to have helped break Moltres out of Team Rocket's control. Whatever the story behind it was, Adam was grateful to it.

SC

Ash made sure to stay a few steps behind Koga as he, Nita and Koga climbed the stairs to the tower's higher floors. He knew that in the way the situation had played out, it was the best course of action to co-operate with Koga. After all, if Koga hadn't come along, he would still be stuck in the Dream Eater.

He motioned to Nita to stay behind him. He decided he would work with Koga but he would stay vigilant too.

"So what exactly was that?" Ash asked as they climbed the stairs.

"I am not entirely sure but they have sleeping gas installed in this tower. It had been designed to hold hostages a while ago. They are putting it to good use now. Once the gas kicks in, they have a pretty powerful Gengar which casts a gigantic Dream Eater around the whole tower", Koga replied.

"How do we know we're not under Dream Eater again?"

"It can't work on humans who are aware of the possibility of falling under it. Basically, it can only work on the unaware human mind. Now that you are conscious to the possibility of falling under it again, it won't work. It's only useful for the first time. But what makes it dangerous is that if humans are under its effects for too long, they risk slipping into long term comas"

"Oh"

They were a bit further ahead when Nita spoke up.

"Now that this whole Dream Eater thing has failed, what are they going to do?"

"Well your friend is keeping most of the grunts very busy outside. I think the only hurdle left here would be a fight with which ever admin's in charge of this operation. That is, if they even have her here. I thought they would choose Lavender over Cinnabar since it doesn't have a civilian population. But knowing Team Rocket, she might not even be in either of these places. Given they know there's someone leaking information from the inside. They might just be trying to exhaust the rebels more" Koga replied.

The gravity of the situation hit Ash very hard. If he hadn't hesitated back in Vermillion, none of this would be necessary. If what Koga had said was true and these were false operations then people could die for no reason. Dying on an operation would be meaningful if the operations actually led to something. But if Janine wasn't in either of these locations, then the whole thing could probably turn the war in Team Rocket's favour, if enough UANK members got killed or captured.

"Since we haven't been attacked at all after dispelling the Dream Eater, I am getting a bad feeling", Koga said as he pushed a door open. It was another empty room lined by Pokémon graves. "This is irritating", Koga muttered.

Ash was having a hard time focusing on the job at hand. On one hand, he knew that his inability to keep his emotions in check had significantly complicated the whole thing. On the other hand, he had his mother's killer right in front of him. Koga had trained as a ninja, yes, but it wouldn't be too difficult to have Lucario drive a paw into his gut. Nita seemed to notice this. She had been walking a few steps behind him but she came up next to him and wrapped her hand around his. "I'm sure it'll work out. It's always worked out for us so far. I believe fate is on our side", she gave Ash a smile.

Ash faintly smiled back.

They had reached the very top floor when an explosion shook the tower. Before they knew it, the tower started to collapse. It seemed like the foundation of the tower had given in. Ash's mind went blank. He knew he had to react quickly to save himself and Nita at least but the fact that the graves of so many Pokémon were going to be ruined stung him even as he felt himself losing balance. In a better time, a time before the Rockets, people would regularly visit the graves to pay respects to their departed Pokémon. Now even the graves were going be destroyed. Did any of this really have to happen? Ash quickly cleared these thoughts. He knew he had to react.

Ash's Charizard flew out of the collapsing tower with Ash and Nita. Koga had slipped onto his Venomoth. When they flew outside they saw Sabrina locked in a battle with Mewtwo, Silver and Luke.

Sabrina had her Alakazam and Jynx battling alongside a Gengar, which Ash identified as the Pokémon that must have cast the Dream Eater.

Silver had his Feraligatr and Houndoom. Luke had his Umbreon.

Houndoom charged towards Jynx with its fangs spread wide open. Fire burst out of its mouth and engulfed the part Ice type. Alakazam came to its rescue with a Thunderpunch that pushed Houndoom away.

It was clear that the explosion had been caused by the battle. Too things were clear from this. One, Janine was not in Lavender. And two, wherever she was, she was with Leaf. Was she in Cinnabar, then? _Hopefully_.

Umbreon's Shadow Balls crashed into Alakazam, visibly damaging the Psychic type quite a bit. Feraligatr did not give it any time to recover, digging its claws at it. But Alakazam Teleported just in time to avoid the attack, reappearing in the air a few feet above Feraligatr.

Alakazam shot a Charge Beam at Feraligatr. The electric attack clearly had an impact on the water type Feraligatr, that fell to the ground almost instantly. On the other side of the street, Gengar was wiping the floor with Mewtwo, who was already exhausted from the fight with the Weavile back in Vermillion and the several long distance Teleports it had already performed earlier on in the night.

Ash knew they would have to help if Sabrina was to be defeated. The best course of action now was thtoe defeat Sabrina as quickly as possible and rush to the Cinnabar front. But he also knew the Pokémon he had with him wouldn't be very useful on Sabrina.

Koga seemed to have read his mind. "Allow me", Koga threw a Pokeball to the ground.

An Absol materialized from the Pokeball and took a battle stance.

"Night Slash!" Koga ordered his Pokémon. The Absol seemed to glide through the night as the special horn on its head unleashed a wave of dark energy against Alakazam. Completely nullified by Dark energy, Alakazam took the full impact of the attack. It did not get a moment of rest as Luke's Umbreon then launched a second Shadow Ball at it. The two successive attacks were too much for it to handle and Alakazam collapsed onto the ground.

"Ganging up on me. So heroic" Sabrina scowled.

"This isn't some epic. This is a war fought by the most vile species of living beings alive; humans. Feraligatr, TAKE HER OUT" Silver shouted orders to his Pokémon. Feraligatr was back on its feet after Alakazam's attack and it went racing towards Sabrina.

Jynx tried to come towards its trainer's rescue but Houndoom seized onto it and pushed it to the ground before unleashing a ferocious blast of fire on it from point blank range.

Feraligatr was a barely a foot away when the Metagross Sabrina had used to Disable Ash and Silver earlier appeared from the shadows. Apparently, the rule of thumb in this war was to always have a Pokémon lurking in the darkness.

Metagross launched a powerful Psychic at Feraligatr and the water type was sent flying back, before it crashed into the wall of a nearby building.

"I won't lose to any of you. Metagross, TELE-"

"OH NO YOU DON'T" Koga shouted at the top of his breath as his Absol sprang onto the Metagross. Being a steel type, Metagross wasn't as fallible to Absol as Alakazam had been. Even then, the sheer presence of Dark Energy at close range was enough to block off Pyschic type moves.

"You betrayed us after you betrayed them. Real nice, Koga", Sabrina mocked Koga.

Houndoom, now finished with Jynx, had diverted its attention towards Metagross. Ash noticed the look on Silver's face as he fought Sabrina. There was a content look on his eyes whenever he fought Rockets and won. It was the sort of contentment that Ash had never managed to get. He wanted to kill Rockets, he knew he had to. But it wasn't something he enjoyed, unlike Adam and Silver, who seemed to revel in it. He wished he had that same sort of satisfaction.

Metagross , surrounded by two dark types in Absol and Houndoom, seemed helpless. Sabrina then sent out Electrode. Ash thought it was strange for her to have an Electrode, given she was the Psychic type master. It struck him then just what the Electrode was for.

"MOVE! SILVER, MOVE !"

Ash shouted at Silver at the top of his lungs. Silver was too caught up in the in the battle to make out Ash's cries from all the sound from the fighting Pokémon.

Sabrina smirked "I guess this is it. Electrode, EXPLOSION!"

_**(Aaaaand cliff-hanger**_!)


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N: _

_Hey there,_

_I realize that taking nearly 2 weeks to write a chapter is pretty lazy. But to be honest, senior year is painful. Anyhow, school ends in about 2 weeks so I'll be more regular from now on._

_This chapter is probably the most important chapter I will ever write because this delivers the main foundation, as in, the main reason behind why everything happened. That's right, the recurring questions:_

_Why did Team Rocket do this all of a sudden?_

_Why are the Gym Leaders suck dicks?_

_What about the other regions!_

_^ These questions get answered._

_p.s. n00dlemporium was the first reviewer to guess that Toru is the kid from Leaf's flashback in Chapter 1. I can't believe none of my readers managed to guess that before. Especially you, pheonixfire1995, I thought you'd catch it. You wound me. Oh well._

_Hope you like it. Read and review!_

_Nominating "Ketsuraku Automation" by One Ok Rock as the story's Theme Song btw._

Chapter 12

Revelations: The Grand System

The explosion didn't have too large a radius but it obliterated whatever stood in its path. Ash and the others had to close their eyes to keep the blinding light from burning their eyes. Once the explosion faded, everyone looked to where Silver and Luke had been standing.

Two Gengar stood in front of Silver and Luke, Agatha stood not far from them.

"You kids forgot I was here, didn't you? Tsk Tsk. Just because I have a few greys", Agatha smirked.

Ash breathed a sigh of relief. He had completely forgotten that Agatha had been a part of the mission too. She had been assigned to fall back so that she could jump in as back up. She was a Ghost type master and Ghosts were completely immune to Normal type attacks. For all the power that Explosion had, it was useless against Ghosts. Ash couldn't tell if Silver had gotten carried away or if he had remembered that Agatha was around all along. He probably wouldn't get carried away. Ash knew mistakes like those were more down his alley, not Silver's.

Agatha's two Genger had completely nullified the Explosion. Only person it hit was Sabrina and her body had been completely blown apart. The sight wasn't pretty and Ash did his best to not look.

Ash and Nita had been on Ash's Charizard while Koga had been on his Venomoth. They all touched down to the ground.

"Well it's clear that she isn't here", Silver said, wiping the sweat off his brow.

"We should get over to Cinnabar then" Ash suggested.

"No" Silver interrupted him. "First, you explain", Silver pointed to Koga.

"Explain?" the former gym leader was surprised.

"Yes. I was wondering whether you'd show up now that they're messing with your daughter. Tell me, now, why did gym leaders sign up for all of this?" Silver asked Koga while giving him a look that that would make most people shudder.

"Shouldn't we head to Cinnabar first? We can talk once all this is over"

"No, we need to know what we're up against. So far, all we've seen is people betraying their conscience, seemingly for power. People like Surge or Karen or you. You had everything. Respect, fame, just name it. You can't be doing this for power alone. I don't buy it. She wouldn't have blown herself up just for power. People who do things for power are too selfish for something like that".

Every word that Silver said made a lot of sense in Ash's head. He tried to pretend like he had thought the same the whole time but he knew that would be a lie. Once again, he couldn't help but be amazed at Silver's observation skills. Was Silver really that smart? Or was Ash just a bit slow?

"If you must know right now, then I will try to explain in brief. Giovanni offered us something we couldn't refuse. The chance to become immortal" Koga said in a matter-of-fact tone.

They way Koga said it made seem like a joke. In the middle of a bloody war, where people were dying every second, where a psychotic woman hadn't hesitated to blow herself up, in the middle of all this, something like that felt out of place, to say the least.

Everyone present had a hard time taking in what Koga had just said. "_Immortality_? Is this some joke?" Nita narrowed her eyes.

"No. No joke at all. Let me explain", Koga took a deep breath.

"Oh you better", Silver said in an impatient tone.

"Existence began with a giant mass of energy that humans would later call The Original. The energy was too much for one being to take. Keeping all the power to itself would eventually overwhelm it so The Original fleshed its power out to create a being known as Arceus, who was capable of channelling the immense quantity of energy. Arceus' job was to distribute the great energy so that nobody was burdened with having to contain too much as The Original had been. For this purpose, Arceus created Dialga and Palkia, beings who would use their energy to create the dimensions of Time and Space. These two dimensions created a medium for greater channelling of energy. But even then, The Original had too much power, power that it couldn't afford to keep to itself. So it created planets. Then it created Groudon and Kyogre, who gave rise to the land and to the oceans.

Energy was further divided to create Ho-oh, the being that would look after the skies and Lugia, the protector of the seas. But these beings started clashing among themselves. Groudon and Kyogre would fight relentlessly to expand land mass over the sea or to flood the lands with water. Dalgia and Palkia would clash to obliterate the dimension created by the other." At this point, Koga took a small pause to see if everyone was following him. Everybody had been listening intently, although most had a look of disbelief on their faces.

"Of course, parts of these are myths we all know. But there's more. The reason these beings clashed is largely because they did not have any intelligence of their own. They were acting solely on the impulse of the great amount of energy they contained. To combat this, The Original and Arceus took some of those beings' powers away and created Intelligence, a quality that would allow beings to judge the decisions they were making. To put Intelligence to use, The Original created humans, beings with intelligence that did not have the great power that the beings had. The idea was for humans to guide the great beings.

But this did not work out. Humans started trying to abuse the power of the great beings for their own ends, to fight wars between their nations. This annoyed the Original. To calm the humans down, he created regular Pokémon. These beings had powers, not like those that the guardians had, but still enough to satisfy humans and their seemingly unending lust for power.

Pokémon had a new version of Intelligence that did not work the same way as that of Humans. They were created similar to The Original. They were better beings. They taught humans to co-exist"

"I don't see", nobody had noticed how Silver had been fuming for the past few minutes. "How this has anything, whatsoever, to do with all this!" Silver grabbed Koga by the collar but let go a bit later, clearly trying to compose himself.

"Just let me finish", Koga continued. "This new system created peace for some time. Largely this system has ensured peace ever since but there have been times when humans have crossed the line. When humans have tried to abuse the powers of the Guardians or caused too much chaos. The Original had basically given away all its power to create the Pokémon that we have, ceasing to exist in the process. The Original no longer has power. It is said it only exists as a part of everyone's conscience now. Since it had basically given itself away in the form of Pokémon, it is deeply offended whenever humans try to manipulate the Legendary Guardians. Whenever this has happened, like the incident involving Groudon and Kyogre in Hoenn a few years ago or when Team Galactic tried all that in Sinnoh. Whenever this happens, Arceus, acting as the great link between The Original and the world, sends an avatar to solve the problem".

"Avatar?" Luke said the word out loud a couple of times. "This sounds _insane_"

"The Avatars come in different forms. Sometimes it's a regular Pokémon, sometimes a trainer, sometimes a whole new Legendary, like how Rayquaza had been created to calm the clash between Groudon and Kyogre. But there is a catch. Whenver an Avatar is sent, Arceus gives whatever power it has left from The Original into the Avatar. At that point in time Arceus is largely powerless and much of the world's remaining Original Energy resides with the Avatar. So if someone were to kill the Avatar, the laws that govern this world would fall apart"

"What then?" Ash asked, trying his best to process all the new information.

"The Original's energy works in a 'winner keep all' system. Defeat the Avatar and you gain the power. That power makes you the 'second coming of the Original'. That is what we are after. That was the idea all along. Create chaos, create pandemonium. Create a situation of absolute madness, a situation that would irk Arceus to send an Avatar. We would then crush the Avatar with the power of our artificially enhanced Pokémon."

"Assuming all this is true", Silver had calmed down now. Ash could tell he was trying to draw conclusions from all the information he had just received. "The Avatar would be very powerful. How would you defeat it?"

"As I said a bit earlier, what differentiated the normal, peaceful Pokémon from the vicious Legendries was the fact that the normal Pokémon were also created with a level of intelligence. The Scientist Colress created a system by which he could eliminate the intelligence faculty within Pokémon. This is what we call our Plus 5 or Plus 7 Pokémon. This would leave them with only the pure unharnessed energy of The Original, making them similar to the Guardians in design. With an army of these, we could tame legendries and use them to crush the avatar"

"All of this sounds insane. You just bought all this? All of you? You betrayed the country based on these myths?", Silver sounded like he didn't even believe himself at this point. It was frustrating. All of this, an entire war, fought because of some myths? Was mankind really this stupid ?

"They are not myths", Koga replied firmly. "We had reasons to believe Giovanni. He has already acquired parts of The Original's power, it was a reason for us to believe him."

"He did what?", this was Agatha's turn to be surprised.

"He can use Pokémon attacks. He can levitate, use Psychic type moves you name it. He has defeated Mew and absorbed its powers"

"What in the world-" Ash was dumbfounded. Everyone there was dumbfounded.

"There's another reason for us to believe him. He created us"

"Created you? You're cyborgs?" At this point Silver could believe everything.

"No, that's not quite what we meant. We Gym Leaders were largely put into our positions by him. Notice how everyone who has become an elite four member or a gym leader in recent years turned out to be traitors. The only reason the Gym Leaders in Pewter and Cerulean were not 'traitors' were because those cities appointed their own leaders, not operating on the decision of the Pokémon League"

"The Pokémon League is corrupted?" Agatha asked. To have been a part of something for so long and to have never suspected anything made her question her own sense of judgement.

"Yes. You're the only elite four member to not turn astray because you were appointed a long time" Koga said, looking at Agatha. "People like me, who became Elite Four members recently were all appointed under the indirect orders of Giovanni. He amassed a huge fortune throughout his life and was one of the biggest shareholders of the Pokémon League. For all its influence, do not forget the Pokémon League is a business. The events are broadcasted around the world, the gym battles are broadcasted, there's merchandising, sponsorships, etc and it's a huge party. But this business needs funding and bit by bit, over two decades, Giovanni became the Pokémon League's major shareholder. It went to the point where he could have say in who becomes a Gym Leader or an Elite Four member. And that's where we came in. He's also the reason the other regions didn't get involved. He's among the world's premier tycoons and you'd be surprized by the number of industries he dominates. Plus he's offered them Kanto's exports at a cheaper rate. Governments will agree to most things in return for adequate amounts of 'financial incentives', shall we say."

Koga took another pause, taking in a few breaths.

"We worked to earn trust, to become loved and looked up to. So that we could back stab the people very effectively when push came to shove. Although we didn't really have anything binding our conscience. We weren't being 'traitors' as you say. Far from it. We have been working with him from the very start. Most of us were orphans or street urchins who he helped. He gave us money, taught us how to battle. We were being loyal to our master."

"If immortality is what you want, why was Sabrina so willing to blow herself up?" It was Ash's turn to ask the questions.

"Because Giovanni convinced us that once it was done, once the Avatar was defeated and he gained control of The Original's power, he would bring us back"

"Bring people back from the dead?", Ash's eyes widened.

Koga looked at him with a look of concern. "Yes. Everything is The Original's energy. Learn to control it and everything is possible"

Koga then looked towards Silver. "So shall we go? We've wasted enough time already. This could have waited for later"

"Yes", Silver seemed absent-minded. It was natural. The vastness of the scheme had caught everyone off guard.

"So the basic point of all this" Ash cleared his throat. "Is to cause chaos?"

"Yes" Koga replied. "Cause enough chaos and devastation for Arceus to send in the Avatar. It's why you rebels are valuable assets to Giovanni. He needs struggle, war, destruction, food shortages, whatever. Anything that causes chaos. What Team Rocket are looking for is chaos."

"And all the members are in on this?" Ask asked. In his mind, he thought of Leaf. Was Leaf in it for this strange quest of immortality?

"Not at all. Only those in Giovanni's very private circle know this. Much of Team Rocket is just a method to execute our plans and bring out about the chaos that we sought. None of the grunts or admins know. They are very basic criminals, they don't have any of the aims we do. Your friend Leaf, for example, and others who joined us, do not know anything of this either"

This answer slightly upset Ash. If Lead had joined in because of _this,_ he might have had it in his heart to forgive her. He knew she wasn't the bravest person around. For her to run after something like immortality, the ultimate escape from danger of any kind, would make a lot of sense. But if she didn't know the truth about Team Rocket, what else was she in it for? Was she such a coward that she would betray everything just for a little safety? Wait, did this mean he was accepting this quest for immortality as a legitimate reason for causing _all_ this carnage? Ash's mind went into overdrive. Once again, he found himself wishing if he could return to his old life, travelling with Brock and Misty. _Brock and Misty_. Could they be brought back? _And his mom_?

"If you believe he can bring anyone back, why are you so concerned about Janine?" Silver asked Koga, looking him right in the eye. Ash was stunned again. It was a very appropriate question and he was surprised that he hadn't thought of it.

"Because I am not sure that we will succeed anymore. I have an odd feeling that you rebels will win this war. And if you do, the The Grand System won't be executed", Koga replied.

"The Grand System?", Silver looked at Koga with a confused look.

"That's what he has been calling this plan all these years. Ever since he started working on it nearly 30 years ago".


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: This chapter deals with the greatest OC of all time, Adam the Avenger.

In all modesty, I absolutely loved writing Adam and this chapter will probably be the most important one in regards to his character.

Like earlier chapters that delved into Romance, I had huge help from my girlfriend, Lady Aweshumnesh. Here's to her for helping me write this.

**Chapter 13**

**What do you fight for?**

Adam, Gary and Toru landed on Cinnabar Island. Behind them, Moltres had completely decimated the armada of Rocket units. The way its flames devoured the countless grunts and their Pokémon was terrifying and beautiful at the same time.

"Why is this place so empty?" Gary looked around the island. It was clear the island had been used as a base but it was dead quiet now.

"I think that armada had every last Rocket unit. They probably didn't expect Moltres would turn on them" Adam replied, examining the surroundings.

"You got that right" a female voice caught their attention. It sounded sickeningly familiar to Adam but he knew he was just imagining the resemblance.

It was a Team Rocket member. By the get up, they could tell it was a female. She wore a hoodie, the hood of which concealed her face.

"I was in charge of this operation. I honestly did not expect Moltres would have turned on us. I also expected all of you would retreat seeing we had a living breathing legendary on our side. But I guess I have been misjudging my calculations all my life"

"So you're the only here? Come on girl-" before Toru could finish, a puff of powder fell on both him and his Pidgeot. Instantly, the two fell asleep.

It was a Butterfree. The Pokémon had managed to sneak up behind Toru, making use of the diversion created by its trainer's rather dramatic entrance.

Gary tried to go for a Pokeball next but out of nowhere, vines emerged from underground. A Venonat emerged from the ground underneath which it had clearly been hiding. Butterfree's Sleep Power was on him in a flash and Gary too was sound asleep.

Adam knew these tactics_. Could it be? It couldn't, could it?_

"Who are you?" Adam didn't want to admit it but he was impressed by this Rocket unit's quick thinking. Most grunts were too dull. He had Arcanine ready, lurking in the shadows. Even though it was almost dawn, the night sky was still an ally.

"You can call your Pokémon out, Adam the Avenger. I just want to talk", the woman said in what seemed like a voice that had been crying.

"I…" Adam felt the words barely coming out of his mouth. "Are you an illusion?" He finally managed to put a few words together.

"No, I am not. Our Dream Eater specialist is Sabrina and she's in Lavender", the woman replied.

"b-But I saw you die…..love", Adam couldn't even believe what he was saying.

The woman pulled her hood off. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was wearing a hair band Adam had brought her.

"I'm sorry, Adam", Erika said very quietly, her voice almost dying off towards the end. "I am with Team Rocket."

_Flames swirled across the Celadon City Gym Green House. Screams, the cries of Pokémon, the sound of glass shattering, every last noise seemed to crash into Adam's ears. He was just a spectator. Where did they come from? Team Rocket had never been this strong. He saw her, confidently rooted to her position. She wouldn't give up. But she was outnumbered, vastly outnumbered._

"_ERIKAAAAA" he tried to call after her._

_She looked in his direction and looked away. He could see the confidence in her eyes. He knew what she was like. She would never desert her position, she would never give up._

_Then he saw it again. The flames. Oh they were majestic. He hated himself for admiring the way the flames danced through the gym. It was amazing how powerless he was. He knew his life was being ripped out of its core. They had been engaged. They would be married soon. Why was this happening?_

_The fires came dangerously close to his face. His eyes blacked out. She was the last thing he saw._

"This is a joke. This has got be some joke. Is this your work, Toru?" Adam looked at Toru, hoping, praying that Toru would get up and say something like "Psych!"

"It's not a joke, Riley" Erika walked up to him and reached for his helmet. Adam tried to slap her hand away but he stopped himself from doing so.

_Riley_.

It was a nickname his grandfather had given him. His parents died when he was just three, leaving him to be raised by his grandfather. The only person who knew about this nickname was Erika. Did this mean all this was true?

She slowly took off his helmet and threw it through the ground. It was the first time in five years that anyone had seen Adam's face. Even he had started to forget what he looked like. The burn marks were horrific and it was clear that it had been a sort of a miracle that he had survived on that day.

Erika brought her lips closer to his and planted a soft kiss. All this time, Adam stood motionless, still trying come up with one reason, just one reason, for all this to be a joke. Maybe he was dreaming, maybe he was under some hallucinating agent.

"The fires were never supposed to reach you", she said in an apologetic tone.

"W-what?"

"I instructed my grunts to specifically keep you out of the target area. But they're very useless" Erika said, shaking her head.

"What the hell is going on?" Adam's question sounded almost like a plea; like he was begging for someone to help him make sense of all this.

"I'll have to explain many things. I guess I should start with Team Rocket and the Pokémon League."

Erika spoke for nearly 20 minutes at a stretch; all the while Adam did not move an inch. She was still standing right next to him. What was all this? The Pokémon League was controlled by Giovanni? The Original ? Immortality? Was all of this true?

"What was your role in all this?" Adam finally managed to muster up the strength to ask her.

"Well, I was one of Giovanni's agents too. Like the other gym leaders, I was supposed to earn the city's trust and admiration and then stab them in the back when the time came. But then you happened"

"I…happened?"

"Well yes, you happened. You were just a trainer that requested to train at the gym. That's just usual business. What wasn't part of the plan was for me to fall in love"

The words caused raptures inside Adam's mind. Seeing her "die" had changed everything. Everything he was now, this revolutionary leader of the rebels, this vigilante warrior, everything, all of it was based on the values that she had stood up for. Or , now it seemed, he had assumed she had stood up for.

"So everything was fake?". He had grown up in the countryside with his Grandfather. His life didn't have much in it till he became a trainer. It only really began after he met her. And she wasn't who he had thought she was? Basically, the most important part of his life had been a lie?

"No. How I felt for you wasn't a lie. You were very different. When you believed in something, you truly stood up for it. We were both orphans but you were so different. I was brought up by Giovanni. I knew I had to be loyal to him. No, I chose to be loyal to him even when I had the ability to stop aiding him, if I wanted. I didn't have the courage you did. I really did admire you", she was gently sobbing as she said every word.

He had spent five years, working, training to get stronger, so that he could finish the fight she had started. He scoured the country to find like-minded people. Finding the people was hard and dangerous. He spent sleepless nights putting the Vengeance together. Everyone in the Vengeance had something in common that separated them from the Rebellion. They had all lost something personally. For him, it was her. He had lost her. For Nita and Luke, it was their grandfather. Everyone else had a story of loss to share too. But the loss that started it all wasn't true? Or was it? Even if she was a Rocket grunt, he still loved her. They still had memories. Was all of that just a lie?

"All of this", Adam too was sobbing, but his sobs were much louder and almost sounded like laughs. "All of this makes me feel like an idiot"

She wrapped her arms around him. So much time had passed, everything had changed. But the hugs still felt the same.

"I am the idiot, Adam", Erika rested her head on his chest. "It was easy faking my death with a Ditto but I didn't think you would react the way you did to my death. I thought you would forget me. Maybe try to resist Team Rocket for a while. But I never thought you would become Adam the Avenger. I underestimated the effect my death would have on you"

"I did all that for you. Or at least, I guess I thought I did"

"The idea you have of me in your mind. That Erika must be pretty amazing, huh?"

Adam pushed her away. Erika was startled but she found her bearings soon enough.

"If everything you said is true, then you have no reason to act like we're back in time or anything" Adam's voice was firm again. The sort of mechanical yet firm voice people had come to associate with Adam the Avenger.

"I-", she paused, seemingly lost for words. "You're right. It was selfish of me to just hug you all of a sudden".

"So you're a Rocket?" the way Adam said the words sent a chill down Erika's spine.

"Y-yes"

"I have heard Rocket talk of me like I'm the grim reaper or something"

"Yes, you should hear how most of our grunts refer to you. They probably fear you more than God or something. Of course, if they feared God, they wouldn't be grunts", Erika smirked. She had stopped sobbing.

"You lot don't fear God, do you? This plan that you mentioned, everything you said. It's hard for me to make sense of all of this. But I guess I can do something which I have done almost every day for these past 5 years"

Scyther lunged at her, its claws ready to slash through her gut. Erika just looked at it and smiled.

"Scyther!" Adam's call halted Scyther in its path.

"Why aren't you attacking back? I know your reflexes are much better than that" Adam asked her, as if he were demanding she fight back.

"Fight you?" she laughed. "Haven't I suffered enough?"

"You know that the Erika I have in my mind, the idea of you that I know is a lie. That idea demands I kill you, a Rocket. You know that, right?"

"I know. I won't regret it now. I know the mistakes I have made. These past 5 years have been nothing short of hell. If Team Rocket succeed and I become immortal, I hate to think what it would feel like to go through of centuries of regret"

"Then help me before I kill you. Tell me what you know about Janine's whereabouts"

It hurt Adam to even say the words. Even if she had been a fake, did she really need to show herself like this? He would have happily died with the memory of that fake Erika, completely ignorant about the truth. At least he would still have the memories. These past 5 years, all he had were memories. Now he didn't even have them.

"I will. I was planning to all along. But first" she took a pause "you have to do me a favour"

Erika could tell this confused him. Had Adam been wearing that helmet for so long? So she had been the last person to see his emotions. And five years later, here she was, the first person to see him make an expression in all this time.

"What?"

"Battle me. Just once"

"If you intend to die at my hands then this is a waste of time. We have to go get Janine"

"Adam, please. Just once"

Adam did not reply. He only clicked his fingers. Scyther lunged forward and was nothing more than a green blur as it sped towards her.

"Vileplume!"

A whirlpool of leaves circled around Scyther and brought it to a halt.

Scyther hunched low to try and scout out just where Vileplume was located.

_They were practising in the forest near Celadon. Adam was having a hard time finding just where Erika's Gloom was hiding. "Remember Adam, grass types will always try and blend in with plans that have a similar colour."_

"_Alright. Scyther, those bluish shrubs over there. Slash through those!"_

_Scyther's claws ran through the shrubs and sure enough, collided with Gloom._

Scyther zipped its claws through the dark bushes to the south of the battlefield. Vileplume's shriek confirmed that it had been hit.

"Sleep powder!"

_Scyther had been falling victim to Gloom's powder attacks each time. "you really have to work out a defence for those", Erika said as she watched Adam and Scyther train. "But how do I stop powder from hitting it? Those particles are so minute, it's hard to dodge", Adam scratched the back of his head._

"_Try making use of Scyther's speed? It's a very agile Pokémon after all"_

"Rapid Spin!"

Scyther stood rooted its spot and started spinning like a top. The winds it kicked up easily blew the Sleep Powder away.

_Scyther's movepool was proving to be an issue for Adam. Even though it was agile and strong, there wasn't a lot of variety on offer in terms of attacks. "Scyther, try hitting Slash harder!"_

"_Hey now", Erika interrupted them. "Using Slash harder won't help. Try combining existing attacks to create combos. It will give you more options"_

"AIR SLASH!"

Scyther flew towards Vileplume with its wings spread.

"_Why won't my attacks hit? Scyther's so fast but Gloom keeps dodging!" "Try this, why don't you use Double Team just when you're about to attack? It'll make it much harder to dodge"_

"DOUBLE TEAM!"

Scyther seemed to split into two as its attack approached Vileplume. The grass type couldn't tell which was which.

_Adam was alone. He was in the Celadon City Pokémon Centre. It was turned into a refugee centre in the hours after Team Rocket's invasion. He was drifting in and out of consciousness. He could feel someone bandaging his face. All of him hurt. His face was still singed. _

"_I will kill them all", Adam felt the tears run down his face. His insides hurt. His outsides hurt. What was all this? Was this hell?_

"_Please, Adam. If they hear you, there could be more trouble", the nurse urged him._

The attack hit Viluplume square on the face and it was pushed back several feet.

Adam heard the sound of clapping. "You really are better than me now" Erika smiled. It was that smile. The smile that could make your heart stop beating. The smile that could make you feel like everything was going to be alright.

But everything wasn't going to be alright. Far from it. Everything had turned upside down.

"I know you wouldn't be able to do it. For whatever reason, you love me too much"

"Don't tempt me", Adam managed his best impression of a firm voice as he looked down at the ground. He felt guilty about getting lost in her smile all over again.

"She's in Saffron. The Silph Company Building. You should go", she was still smiling. _The same serene smile._

"You know I can do it"

"I may have underestimated you in the past, Adam. But I know this is beyond you. Don't worry"

She pulled out a knife from her pocket. It was a small kitchen knife, not a meat cleaver or anything. But they both knew this would be more than enough. For all the rigours the human spirit seemed to be able to take, the human body was always pathetically fragile.

Adam found himself trying to reach for the knife. What was he doing? He wasn't so weak.

_The Celadon Festival was the biggest few days in the year for anyone in Celadon. People dressed in traditional kimonos and rejoiced in a celebration of fireworks and dance festivals. The festival ended on the 3__rd__ day with grand fireworks._

_Adam and Erika sat side by side on the dew laden grass. The fireworks were grand but there was one particular one Adam was waiting for. It was one he had particularly ordered. It was going to be the 13__th__ one. He patiently counted and it finally came. It exploded to form the shape of the Rainbow Badge, Celadon Gym's Symbol, Erika's symbol._

_Erika was shocked to see Adam pull out a ring. "Erika, there may be a 150 others but I choose you"_

"I love you. And I am sorry for everything. I did not deserve you. I am so sorry for dragging you into all this"

She drove the knife into her gut.

Adam walked up to her as she fell to the ground. It wasn't long before her body was completely motionless. He crouched down to get a look at her face. There was still a faint smile there. For a fraction of a second, Adam felt like kissing her but he pushed the thought away. He gently pulled the hood over her head.

Adam finally managed to get Gary and Toru up. "Ah, rise and shine!" Toru started stretching his arms.

"Hey where's your helmet?" Gary was stunned to see Adam without a helmet. In fact, he realized he had never seen him without one.

"We need to get to Saffron" Adam told the two of them, avoiding the question.

For a minute, Gary wondered if this was someone else. But the mechanical voice, the postures, it was all the same. It couldn't be anyone else.

"Did you get that info from her?", Gary asked pointing to the Rocket grunt.

She lay on the ground a little further from them. The hood covered her face.

"Ah, a bright new day! New opportunities galore!" Toru waved his arms around as if in celebration.

"Maybe some prefer to cling to the night" Adam muttered as he pulled out the ESP spoon.

"huh? You say something, chief?"

"No, not at all".


End file.
